The Halo Effect
by BlueKnight101
Summary: The Dawn didn't not arrive at Requiem, that destiny did not come to pass for the Master Chief, a series of events including a Mass Relay jump to Thessia. Killing a commando team and starting a galactic war all lead to one thing. The Master Chief and his showdown with a rogue spectre and the Reapers. But an old enemy lies beyond the present threat
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Darkness. It was everywhere. The void of space was ominous and quiet. It was this void that surrounded the rear section of the _UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. _Almost all the ships systems were offline, but a single cryo pod was active along with an A.I projector.

Inside the cryo pod lay Earth's last protector. A hero with hundreds of kills under his belt. The last of Earth's SPARTAN II program. John. Sierra 117. The Master Chief.

She couldn't stop thinking. Thinking was what was killing her. There was just so much information. Too much information. Far too much information. Cortana couldn't handle it. Her mind was breaking. Soon, what she was would be... The Dawn suddenly jerked forward and Cortana's mind went into overdrive. She hadn't been running what was left of the ships sensors. She hadn't felt the need to run them. Now she was wishing she had. The AI rapidly tried to assess what had happened. What she discovered couldn't be possible so she checked again. And a third time before accepting what was now fact. The Dawn had moved light years across space as if it had been nothing.

'Wake me, if you need me.' His words echoed through her mind. Was this a time when she needed him? Cortana wasn't certain. As far as she could... Something beeped. Cortana activated the scanners with a wave of her hand. There were multiple ships on an intercept course towards the Dawn. Unknown ship class and unknown capabilities. That definitely warranted a reason to wake him up. Cortana gently pressed the holographic button that would thaw her protector, her saviour.

_**ARS Thessian Beauty – Matriarch Lorna T'Jal**_

Lorna had been doing this a long time. She had just entered her Matriarch stage and had been given command of the Thessian Defence Fleet, the highest honour a Asari Naval officer could receive, except for Commanding the Citadel defence force, but that position had been Matriarch Lidyana's for years now, and probably would be until she retired. It wasn't like Lorna was chasing Lidyana's job, she was more than happy with her posting on the Asari homeworld.

An object had been detected exiting the Mass Relay. Scanners had been unable to identify what the object was, so Lorna had made a decision. The Asari ships would approach the object and commando teams would try to find a way aboard and try to find out the origin of the object and what had caused it to become as damaged as it currently was.

Lorna's ship, the dreadnought _Thessian Beauty_ led a small group of three other Asari ships towards the object and as they drew closer it was clear that it was part of a ship. The rear half of a ship. But it was a ship like no other that Lorna had seen before.

"This is Matriarch Lorna to all Commando Squads, are you prepared to depart?" She requested. A number of the Matriarchs had requested to send some Commandos for this mission. But the Commando leader had been appointed from the House of T'Soni. Her name was Shiala and it was her that responded.

"Our teams are ready to go. Any idea what we are looking for, Matriarch?" Shiala asked.

"Information. Find their computer and download all the information." Lorna added simply.

"And if there is life on board?"  
Lorna was silent for a second; "You already know that, Commando. The Matriarchs gave the order."  
"But..."  
"If you are endangered, shoot to kill. Lorna out."

**25 minutes later**

Lorna tapped her fingers on the side of her console. Nothing had happened aboard the ship yet, and Lorna was getting impatient. She had never had the longest of patiences.

She pressed the comm button on her console; "This is Lorna to Shiala. Report?"  
"My team has reached what appears to be a combat control room."  
"Any signs of life?"

"None, so far, sir." Shiala paused; "But we've lost contact with Bravo squad. They went into the engineering section and they're signal disappeared."

"We will see if we can get a lock on them from here. Lorna out." The Matriarch nodded to a technician; "See what you can do." The technician nodded and got to work.

**10 Minutes Earlier – Lieutenant Kurin T'Jal**

Kurin was young for a Commando, just past the two hundred mark, and she was only positive that she was on this mission because of how important a figure her mother was. Kurin had never met her father, in fact, she knew very little. She wasn't even sure if her father had been Asari or another race. Kurin knew that she was not an Ardat-Yakshi, she had gone through all the tests that the Justicars saw fit to put them through, so she doubted that her father was Asari.

Kurin's com unit crackled as her and the rest of Commando Bravo Squad entered another corridor. There were five of them in total. Four Maidens(Asari from the point of puberty to around the age of three hundred and fifty. Of which Kurin was the youngest of the group) and three Matrons (Asari older than three hundred and fifty but younger then seven hundred years of age).

"This is Shiala to Lieutenant Selan. Come in Selan." The voice came across slightly distorted, as if something was causing interference.

The Matron who was leading the squad held up her hand and the squad stopped, the Maidens paying attention to their surroundings while the Matron dropped to one knee; "This is Selan go ahead Commander."  
"Scans are picking up energy fluctuations from an area we are guessing is engineering. The readings are strange. Not of a Mass Effect core. I repeat NOT of a Mass Effect core. Take your squad there to check it out."

"Rodger that Commander, we will comply." Selan said as she cut her link to Shiala and turned to her troops; "Kurin." She said; "Take point." She ordered and the young commando followed orders and moved past her comrades to take her place at the front of the line.

Following the scan data that pinpointed to Kurin the location of the target area, it only took the Asari commando squad mere minutes to reach the location. The door to engineering was sealed, and no matter what the Asari tried, they couldn't get the door open, however, just as Selan was away to call in that they couldn't access the area,the door slid open of its own accord and the Asari entered, checking their corners. Shouts of clear came from each Asari until it came to Kurin, and she hesitated.

As she had came in the door, she could have swore that she had seen a moving shimmer, but when she had looked again it was gone. After a few seconds, Kurin nodded; "Area clear."

The Asari spread out across the room. A room which was filled with computers and what looked like some kind of engine in the center of the room. The room was silent, except for the sound of the Asari moving around. Kurin ended up guarding the door. The room was very dark, and the Asari struggled to keep tabs of each other.

Commando Levi Issant, a maiden who had just hit three thirty died first. A UNSC combat knife buried in the side of her neck. Her killer silently laid her body down in the shadows. The shimmery field of a Covenant cloak covering his dark green armour once again.

Selan banged her hand against the side of her helmet as she reached a large computer that glowed a faint blue. Something in here was blocking all her coms, her motion tracker and had deactivated her helmets HUD.

Meanwhile, another Maiden Lita Issant, the sister of Levi met the same fate as her sister. Lita had only been a few years younger than her sister, but they had both signed up to be commandos together and had served together for decades. The combat knife was thrust with such force that it pierce her barrier and the side of her throat. Before she could make a sound, she was twisted to the ground and her throat completely slit. It had taken less than three seconds.

Just as Selan started to try and activate the computer the third Maiden bit the dust. Her neck being snapped. But this time it wasn't silent and the Asari let out a small grunt.

Selan whirled round at the sound; "Squad sound off."  
"Five okay." Kurin shouted from the door. No other shout came and Selan unslung her rifle from her shoulder and moved forward. That was when Kurin noticed it a shimmering shape in front of Selan, but before she could shout out, the field disappeared and in its place stood a green giant with some kind of weapon strapped to his back. Kurin tried to get her assault rifle up, as did Selan, who tried to throw up a biotic barrier, but the thing was quicker, its right arm snapping up, another smaller firearm in its grip. A pistol Kurin thought. The thing fired once the minimal range and the punch the pistol packed tore through Selan's protection, through her visor and exited out the back of her head in a spray of blood and brain matter. The thing instantly cloaked again and Kurin didn't stick around, she took off running back towards the area Bravo had left Delta squad who were holding the boarding craft. She ran with no idea whether or not the thing was following her.

**Engineering – Master Chief John Sierra 117**

He let the alien run. Not because he had planned on letting her, but a beep issued from the glowing console and the holographic figure of a female appeared in front of him.

"Did you get it?" John asked, his low voice was music to Cortana's ears after all this time.  
"Of course I did." Her Avatar smirked; "Their ships didn't even have an A.I presence to even attempt to stop me. I got everything. All their data. All their system features and I even downloaded something called the 'Codex.'" She finished both happy to help and terrified that now she had even more information flying around in her chip. IT WAS TOO MUCH.

"Codex?" John asked as he touched the chip in his left hand to the console and transferred Cortana before placing the chip in the back of his helmet.

"It is collective data on these Aliens and other species they have encountered, along with all their customs and traditions as well as galactic events and history."Cortana explained as John attached his pistol to his hip and pulled the Assault rifle off his back; "It is...fascinating."  
John smiled beneath his helmet; "Fill me in later." He spoke simply as he moved slowly towards the exit to the room.

"Chief, if you can get me to the main communications room two decks up. I maybe able to broadcast a distress message and boost it using the..." As she swept through the codex data; "Asari's communications and hopefully get a message back to Earth and if not Earth then Sanghelios."

John gave a mental nod, one he knew Cortana would know about; "Two decks up. Can you pick up enemy's between us and there?" He asked as he started walking down the corridor away from the dead Asari and Engineering.

Cortana was silent for much longer than usual, but John only let concern flash through his mind and Cortana spoke; "It should be possible to avoid contact."

"Then let's move." John said and took off at a steady jog, making little sound in his armor.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 1**

Kurin ran. Why did she run? She ran because she was afraid. She would never admit...screw that...there was no way she would be able to hide her fear. Kurin stumbled into the docking bay tripping over a loose object as she entered and hit the ground with a thump.

The five Maidens that made up Delta squad were all less experienced than Kurin was, that alone made them show her respect. While the Asari did not really have a rigid military doctrine like the Turians did, they still respected and followed the chain of command. One of the Maidens, who's skin was a dark purple rushed forward and and grasped Kurin's right arm and pulled the Maiden to her feet; "Are you alright?" The Maiden asked, but Kurin ignored her and pressed her hand to her com.

"This is Kurin T'Jal, my squad has been wiped out by what I believe to be a single enemy combatant! I recommend that all Asari forces fall back towards the docking bay!" Kurin said quickly and there was a delay.

"This is Shiala. We are at some sort of communications room, but I am pulling all forces back now." There was a clatter; "What is that?" She was heard to ask, this was then followed by an ear splitting explosion and gunfire. But not Mass Effect fire; "Ambush!" Shiala shouted as the sound of Mass Effect fire barked out; "Goddess! It's tearing my troops apart! Pull back, pull..." The line suddenly died and there was silence. Kurin felt her blood run cold as she switched the channel to communicated with her mother.

"Mother, what should I do?" Her voice was quiet.

Her mothers reply was instantaneous; "Just hold you're position and..." An unintelligible shout was heard from an Asari, clearly on her mothers bridge; "...What do you mean broadcasting?! Shut it down now!" With that the link ended and again there was silence.

Kurin had never felt helpless before, she did now.

_**Communications array UNSC Forward Unto Dawn – Shiala**_

Shiala clutched at her gut, trying to stem the flow of blood that was pouring out of the wound. Her eyes found the one that had done this to her. The green...thing. Was it a robot? Shiala didn't know. But whatever the hell it was, it had torn a bloody swath through her men. The Thing had placed a chip inside the computer in the room in the middle of the fire fight and now it had removed it and reloaded it's rifle. Whatever that rifle was, it was not a Mass Effect weapon and it had proven deadly in this things hands.

The thing turned towards the exit and spotted Shiala. Shiala looked up at it unable to keep the fear out of her eyes. It looked her over and slowly approached her. It stopped in front of her and with lightning quick reflexes kicked away a pistol that was sitting next to Shiala, before dropping down on one knee next to Shiala and producing a black can with some kind of nozzle; "Move your hands." The thing spoke and Shiala didn't move; "If you don't do what I say, you'll bleed out." Strangely it sounded like the thing was being serious and Shiala, against her mind screaming at her that this was a bad idea, moved her hands. The Thing gently stuck the nozzle into the wound; "This will hurt." It stated and pressed a button and pain shot through Shiala and as the Thing moved the can away she noticed foam in the wound.

"What did you do?" She asked.

"Saved your life." It said.

"Why?" Shiala was confused. He was the one who had done this to her after all. Why would he now save her?

"You were unarmed." It stated; "Unarmed and wounded. It would have been wrong to kill you."

Shiala frowned; "So it was right to kill my comrades? My friends?"  
The Thing paused before shaking it's head slowly; "No it wasn't right to kill them. But there is sensitive and classified information on this ship. I had to protect that information."

"What are you?" Shiala asked as the thing headed towards the door.

The Thing stopped and looked back at her before looking away and suddenly disappearing from sight. Leaving Shiala confused and alone.

_**ARS Thessian Beauty – Matriarch Lorna T'Jal**_

"Have you stopped that message?" Lorna inquired as she crossed over to stand behind one of her officers.

"I believe so, however, it was definitely broadcast somewhere, but to where and to who, I do not know." The officer reported. This was concerning Lorna decided. Who knows what the Thing on the ship had broadcast to.

Lorna pressed her com button; "This is Matriarch Lorna to the rest of the fleet, rendezvous with us around the object." Lorna had been around long enough to know when trouble was brewing. She should have done what her gut had told her and just blown the object to all hell, now she had troops over there and would have to sacrifice Asari lives if she chose to do that now. Including the life of her daughter. She rubbed at her eyes as she sat back down. The eyes of her officers looked at her.

"Matriarch." One of them said slowly; "What are your orders?" She asked and Lorna remained silent. What were her orders? She still had troops on board the ship, so firing Mass Accelerator rounds at it was out of the question, sending more troops over didn't seem like a good idea, plus there weren't many more Commandos left on board the ship and Lorna did not want to endanger any more lives; "Shiala do you read me?" Lorna spoke after opening a communication link.

A cough sounded and then a groan before Shiala spoke; "I'm here Matriarch."

"What happened?" Lorna was hoping for good news. That was not what she got from the Commando.

"Most of my teams dead. Apart from the squad holding the escape route. At least I think they are still alive..." Shiala trailed off.

"Shiala, get back to them and get off that ship. We are blowing it..." There was suddenly a screeching sound across the com and Lorna was forced to shut it off; "What the hell was that?"

"Someone has hacked our systems!" One of the officers shouted; "They just tore straight through our fire walls and are shutting down our systems one by one!"

"Try and counter it!" Lorna ordered.

"I can't, who ever is doing this is a very gifted hacker. It's almost like it's..." The officer trailed off, the colour draining from her face. She swallowed; "An A.I."

There was silence for a second; "Are you telling me that there is an enemy A.I in our systems?" Lorna asked quietly and the officer nodded a quickly.

"Everything I try and do, every firewall I throw up is torn down in seconds. I just can't stop this thing!" The officer sounded desperate; "Matriarch, I'm not sure if I can keep it away from our life support systems." The officers hands danced across the keys as she desperately tried to stop the intrusion and then just as suddenly a it had begun, the A.I disappeared; "It...it's stopped." She stuttered.

Lorna made to speak when another officer spoke; "I am reading deactivation of our weapons systems. Attempting to bring them back online. No response." The officer reported.

Lorna stayed silent. Why had the A.I taken down the weapons? The obvious answer was to protect the ship. But when stop there? It could have caused a failure to the core and destroyed the ship. So why didn't it?

_**RSR Super-carrier Pride of Sanghelios – Thel Vadam (The Arbiter)**_

_**The Fleet of Salvation**_

_**2557**_

_**Four years after the death of the end of the Human – Covenant war**_

The Arbiter let out a low growl as a beep echoed around his cabin. He had been taking his first true sleep cycle in months and he must have only been asleep for minutes when the beep broke him.

During the last nine months, the Sangheili had been attempting to unify the old Covenant races under a new banner. The unrest that had risen up following the Covenant's defeat in the war had not been good. While the Unggoy and the Mgalekgolo had joined this new formation and served on Sangheili ships, which were now the main military force for the formation. Arbiter was impressed with the way it worked. The new Alliance was called the Republic of Races and it was a true Republic. The Republic had it's own Senate made up of ninety representatives. Thirty from each of the three current member races. Then there was the office of President. The President could suggest a law to be implemented or a change to a current one, but only the Senate had the power to make the final decision. The President would be a member of one race and his vice president would be from either of the two races. The current president was a Unggoy called Lidam and the vice president was a Sangheili called Kora 'Zamas. The two could not be more different from one another. Lidam was loud and friendly, a welcoming figure who people loved to deal with and he could often be found debating with the Human Ambassador to the Republic. Kora was not as pleasant. Kora was an soldier turned politician and she hated the Humans. She was a quiet one, but when she did speak, it was usually as an insult. She was not respected among the Military hierarchy and had made it clear her hatred for the Arbiter and Rtas 'Vadum and had been angered when the Senate had appointed the Arbiter as the commanding officer of their new Super-carrier Pride of Sanghelios, just a few months earlier. She had spoken out against the Senate and had become one of the most hated figures in the Republic, not just with the people and the Senate, but also with the President.

Arbiter slowly climbed out of bed and crossed the room and pressed the small button by the door and the voice of an Unggoy came through. The Unggoy was his executive officer. His name was Dipzim and like the Arbiter and most of the crew was a veteran of the Covenant war. Dipzim had been a Special Operations trooper during the war and the Arbiter had to admit that, for a Unggoy, he was tough as nails.

"Arbiter. You are needed on the bridge." Dipzim reported, the Arbiter could detect a hint of excitement in the Unggoys voice.

"Is the matter of grave importance?"

"We have received a transmission." Dipzim spoke as the Arbiter started to pull on his battle armour. Sangheili combat wear was mostly the same as it had been four years ago, but there had been a couple of improvements, most insignificant. But the Humans had helped them develop a wrist mounted energy blade, only eight inches in length, but effective, at least from what Arbiter had heard, he had yet to try his out. The blade was only a back up in case the combatant was disarmed of his main firearm and his energy sword. The Energy sword had been improved as well, no longer running out of power after continuous use. A feature that Arbiter was particularly fond of.

"Who was the transmission from Dipzim?" Arbiter inquired as he strapped the bracer's that contained the energy knives to his wrists; "Can you patch it through to my quarters?"

A few seconds later, the Arbiter froze half way through putting his helmet on as the message started to issue from the com; "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday." The Arbiter straightened up to his full height. He knew that voice; "This is UNSC FFG-201 _Forward unto Dawn _requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritisation code Victor 05-3-Sierra117. We have been boarded by unknown Aliens. Requesting immediate assistance. I repeat. Prioritisation code Victor 05-3-Sierra117."  
The Arbiter did the closest thing a Sangheili could do to a smile; 'The Spartan yet lives.' He thought as he pressed the com button; "Dipzim, I will be there momentarily. Get us underway."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 2**

_**UNSC Forward Unto Dawn – Shiala**_

Shiala struggled to her feet. Whatever it was that the thing had sprayed into her wound, it had stopped the bleeding and Shiala was confident that she was going to survive. But the pain from the wound was still there. Questions spun round her mind. Why had it saved her? It could have left her to die. But it didn't.

Shiala pressed her hand to her communicator; "Kurin." She gasped in pain as she exited the room, walking slowly. Trying to ignore her pain; "Prepare to launch one of our ships. I will be there shortly and we are getting off this ship." She groaned in pain as Kurin replied.

"We already have the engines primed, we are just waiting for you."  
"I'll be there soon." Shiala cut the communication link and continued forward. Determined to get off the ship and back to her home. As she passed by a window, she paused as she noticed a large anomaly appear in space.

_**ARS Thessian Beauty – Matriarch Lorna T'Jal**_

"Can someone tell me what that thing is?" Lorna inquired as she looked at the strange circular anomaly that had just appeared nearby; "Is it dangerous?"  
"Scans are picking up very high power readings emanating from it. But I can not safely suggest that we are in no danger."

Lorna was silent for a moment before starting to speak; "Wait for our troops and then..."  
"Matriarch!" One of the Asari shouted; "The Portal!" Lorna shot her gaze back to it and smaller anomalies were appearing around it. One by one ships started exiting the smaller ones. The ships were purple and looked very streamlined to Lorna. They looked to be about a fourth of the size of the Destiny Ascension and there was a lot of them. Maybe sixty? Lorna hadn't counted.

"Hail them, we need..." Her eyes widened; "By the Goddess!" She exclaimed as the front of a ship started to exit the largest portal. None of the Asari spoke as the ship continued to emerge. A ship that size was impossible. It was easily four times the size of the Ascension if not more. Like the others, it was streamlined, but unlike them, it was a deep shade of black; "How...how big is it?" She stuttered quietly.

"Scanning."One of her officers responded; "Goddess..." She didn't speak for a few seconds; "Scans report that the ship is twenty eight kilometres in length."  
"Twenty eight!" Lorna exclaimed; "Establish cont..." She was cut off as a voice echoed around the bridge.

"This is Arbiter Thel 'Vadam of the Republic of Races vessel, Pride of Sanghelios." The voice had a commanding tone to it; "We are here to recover the crew of this ship. If you try and stop us we will be forced to destroy your vessels."  
"Arbiter." Lorna spoke quickly; "This is Matriarch Lorna T'Jal of the Asari Republics home defence fleet. I still have troops on board the ship. I will not pull back until they are off ship." She tried to sound as commanding as the Arbiter had, but she was sure she had failed miserably.

"You have ten minutes." And with that the link died.

"Get a message to the council tell them an unidentified enemy fleet is in the Thessian system and the Home Fleet is outnumbered. Tell them we need reinforcements in case this all goes to hell." Lorna ordered as she leaned across to her com officer who nodded and got to work on just that; "And tell Shiala to hurry..."  
"Their ship has already left the ship. They will be across in just minutes." Lorna nodded and looked back at the large ship.

"That ship could probably take out the Citadel Races fleets on its own." She muttered.

_**RSR Pride of Sanghelios – Thel 'Vadam (The Arbiter)**_

"Dipzim." Arbiter turned to his XO. Dipzim was tall for a Unggoy, standing at just over five foot eight, there was a scar across the left side of his face that he had gotten from another Unggoy who had been loyal to the Brutes and Truth during the battle for the Ark. That Unggoy was long dead and now Dipzim was the highest ranking Unggoy in the Republics armed forces; "You have the bridge." He said as he got to his feet and began to walk towards the door.

"Where are you going, Arbiter?" Dipzim enquired of the Sangheili who glanced back; "I am going to go and get the Spartan." He said before leaving the bridge.

Dipzim turned to the bridge crew; "Get me a link to the Spartan." After a few seconds the Communications officer nodded to Dipzim; "This is Executive Officer Dipzim of the Pride of Sanghelios to Master Chief John 117." He spoke calmly; "The Arbiter will pick you up in the docking bay and will transfer you to our ship. Do you read me, 117?" Dipzim stiffened up as the Spartan responded. The voice of the Daemon was still enough to put a small amount of fear into the ex members of the Covenant.

"I read you, Dipzim. Master Chief out." And with that the link died and Dipzim turned back to the Communication Officer; "Send a message to the UNSC command and inform them that we have recovered Sierra 117." The Unggoy gave the Unggoy equivalent of a smile under his breathing mask.

"The message is away." The officer reported and Dipzim nodded; "Monitor the..._Asari_... ships, and scan for any more approaching." He paused. He hated the way the word _Asari _sounded as it rolled off his tongue.

_**THW Fires of Palaven – Admiral Maxilo Gailianus**_

Maxilo was Turian. Not just in a biological sense, but in every sense. He believed that the Turians were the only race in this galaxy capable of keeping any kind of peace. And the message he had received from the Councillor and the orders from the Primarch made him feel that the time for the Turians to reinforce that belief was now. A hostile force was nearing Thessia and the Asari did not have enough ships to stop them. So it was time for the Turian military to show their hand. The Primarch had given him a large fleet for this. Six dread noughts and Sixty five of the Hierarchy's frigates. He had his orders. Remove the threat to Thessia by any means necessary.

"This is Admiral Gailianus to all ships. I want the main guns ready to fire." He ordered of the ships with him. And got a flurry of 'Yes Admiral' in reply.

These new Aliens were in for a head ache.

"Exiting Relay jump in five. Four. Three. Two. One."

_**RSR Pride of Sanghelios – XO Dipzim**_

"XO!" The tactical officer shouted from his display; "Multiple ships exiting some kind of device nearby!"

"Status?!" Dipzim demanded as he moved over to the officer's station and looked at the display.

"They are out of effective weapons range and possess a weapon similar to that of the Humans and the Asari." The officer reported; "Their weapons are hot and are closing fast!"

"All ships!" Dipzim shouted as he opened a communication line; "Shields up! Red Alert! We are under attack!" He patted the tactical officer on the shoulder; "Launch Seraph fighters and prime weapons!"

"It will be done!"

Dipzim looked at a holographic display of the approaching ships ; "If we can, I would like to delay any kind of Galactic War. Take out their engines and weapons! Try not to destroy the ships!"

_**ARS Thessian Beauty – Matriarch Lorna T'Jal**_

Lorna watched in horror as the Turian ships sped straight for the Republic ships. Their weapons were hot! The Turians actually intended to start a battle in the space around Thessia were they insane! That was not what Lorna had wanted when she asked for support. All she wanted was to have a show of force in case the Republic attacked! Not to potentially start a war!  
"This is Matriarch Lorna T'Jal to Turian vessels!" She shouted desperately; "Break off your attack! I repeat break off your attack!" There was no response so she started to repeat the order when the first Turian ship fired; "By the Goddess!" She shouted; "This is Lorna to all Asari ships! Pull back to the homeworld! I will not drag the Asari Republic into this!" She ordered and the Asari crews began to follow the order. The ships turning slowly and making progress back towards the homeworld.

Just as the Republic opened fire.

_**RSR Pride of Sanghelios – Dipzim**_

"Status report!" Dipzim ordered as a number of the Turian ships on his battle display started to stop dead in their tracks, damage to their hull and engines from where the Republic vessels had scarred them.

"Their defensive systems seem to be built only to stop round from Mass Accelerators. Not Plasma. As such, they are practically defenceless when it comes to our weaponry." The tactical officer reported as another Turian ship took damage; "Their weapons are barely affecting our shields. Shields are still at 100%. Their cannons have a significantly lower tonnage and speed then the weapons the UNSC uses."  
"How powerful?"

"They are only throwing out a yield of thirty eight kilo-tonnes." The officer reported and Dipzim frowned. Such a low yield for a ship. The Human vessels fired a round that was significantly heavier and deadlier. And that was only from a standard MAC gun. Dipzim still remembered the invasion of Earth and the damage a Super MAC could cause.

On his display one of the Republic vessels exploded under the combined fire of four of the largest enemy ships and a couple of the smaller ones. Dipzim growled lowly; "Take those big ships out of the fight!" He ordered as the doors to the bridge opened. Dipzim turned and view the Arbiter entering the bridge followed by the dark armoured Spartan.

"How goes the battle?" The Arbiter inquired.

"Arbiter." Dipzim saluted; "These new enemies are fighting bravely and have destroyed a couple of our ships, but their shielding does nothing to stop our plasma weaponry. I have ordered that the ships be disabled not..." He was cut off be a shout from one of the bridge officers.

"Multiple slip-space ruptures!" The Officer shouted; "Arbiter! It's the UNSC!" Arbiter didn't get a chance to speak as a Human MAC round smashed straight through one of the disabled ships defences and blew a hole in it's center.

_**THW Fires of Palaven – Admiral Maxilo Gailianus**_

Maxilo swore. This had not gone according to plan. These creatures were more advanced then he had expected and they did not use Mass Effect technology but some sort of energy based weapon. To make matters worse, the Asari had not engaged but had retreated! The cowards and now their were more ships of a different design and these ships were not hesitating to eliminate his ships. The ship leading the newcomers was very large as well, but was dwarfed by the large black ship.

The lead ship fired again blasting another Turian to pieces. Maxilo watched as a few of the smaller newcomer ships focused fire on one of the Dreadnoughts, the first couple of shots breaking it's Kinetic barrier and the next damaged the hull and the one after blew the shit to pieces.

"Order the retreat!" Maxilo shouted; "We are outnumbered! Fall back! Fall back towards the relay!"

The Turian ships were not the quickest to manoeuvre and a few more were lost. One of the frigates changed course and saved a dreadnought by shielding it with its own mass. It didn't help though as a volley of fire from the largest of the newcomers tore the dreadnought apart.

The battle had lasted all of twenty minutes and the Turian fleet were retreating back through the relay with their tails between their legs.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 3**

_**RSR Pride of Sanghelios – John-117**_

It felt wrong to John to have the four members of the UNSC fleet that had come over to discuss what their next move should be with the Arbiter stare at him like he was a hero. John was no hero. He had fought and killed for his entire life and he was doing something that could be considered 'un-spartan'. He was regretting it. Ever since speaking to the injured Asari, he had started to regret it. He would never regret saving Earth and Humanity. He just regretted that so many had to die to stop the war. John had been asked by the Arbiter to attend the meeting, he had intended on skipping it. But he felt like he now had little choice. But, in an attempt to distance himself from the UNSC, he had sat himself down on the side of the Republic next to the Arbiter and Dipzim.

"Master Chief." The Captain of the UNSC Infinity, the largest starship ever made by Humanity smiled. The Infinity was and it's accompanying ships had been scouting a nearby system when they had picked up Dipzim's message; "My name is Andrew Del Rio. It is an honour to be the first to welcome you back." John nodded. Del Rio gave something off that John didn't like. Maybe it was just the way he carried himself, but there was just something about him that made John dislike him.

"Thank you, sir." John said as Del Rio took his seat next to a young officer that John recognised as Thomas Laskey.

Then someone that John had not been expecting entered the room and he knocked his chair over as he jumped to his feet and saluted; "Ma'am." He said.

The woman smiled. She looked like an older version of Cortana's avatar. She carried herself with a certain amount of poise and grace.

"At ease, John." Dr Catherine Halsey spoke. John relaxed, but didn't sit down; "Take a seat." Halsey told him and he picked up the chair and sat down. The Arbiter gave him a look of confusion. Who was this woman? And who was she to the Spartan? He shook his head and turned to Del Rio.

"What you have done today will start a war!" He growled.

Del Rio frowned; "Your ships were already firing on them." He retorted.

"And we had destroyed none of them on purpose." Arbiter responded; "We aimed to disable them. And you came in and started to destroy them!"

"Whoever these..." He was cut off as the projector in the center of the table lit up and a small hologram of Cortana appeared.

"They are Turians, Captain." She said and turned to Halsey; "Catherine?"  
Halsey smiled; "Cortana, we need to speak later, okay?"

Cortana's avatar nodded; "As I was saying, the Aliens that attacked us are called Turians. They are a militaristic society that views themselves as the Galaxies protectors. They have a strong navy and an army that is just as strong."  
"How do you know this?" Del Rio inquired.

"Cortana hacked into the Asari ship computer and downloaded a item known as a Codex, sir."  
"Codex?" Del Rio inquired.

"It is like a giant database possessed by the Asari and the other Citadel races." Cortana explained.

"And what is the Council?" Halsey asked.

"The Citadel is an organisation of races similar to the Republic, but the Citadel is controlled by the the Citadel Council. The Council is made up of three of the races. The Asari, the Salarians and the Turians." Cortana explained; "They are based in a large space station called the Citadel that they believe that was built by a race called the Protheans, who mysteriously disappeared nearly 50,000 years ago." Cortana explained.

"Disappeared?" John inquired.

"No body knows what happened." Cortana said; "But the Citadel Races have based all their technology on that of the Protheans."  
"If the Protheans disappeared, how did they pass on their technology?" Halsey asked.

"Data beacons." Cortana explained; "These beacons contained all that the races needed to fire their technology far forwards in terms of advancement."

"Do all of the Citadel races use this technology?" The Arbiter asked.

"Yes they all use Prothean technology. Which in some-ways is more advanced then that of Humanity's."  
"In what way?" Del Rio asked.

"Their weapons never run out of ammo." Cortana explained.

"Never run out of ammo?" John asked.

"They over heat and the user is forced to wait for the weapon to cool down. But if the weapon is fired in short bursts then they will have a continuous stream of fire."  
The meeting continued for quite some time, but eventually the meeting ended without a solid conclusion.

_**One Week Later – Sword Orbital Defence Station – Earth**_

_**John-117**_

He had come home to a hero's welcome. TV cameras, politicians and fellow war veterans were there to meet him and he had to shake a few hands and get some pictures taken. But John had come to a decision. He couldn't do this anymore. It was time.

He had been conversing with Fleet Admiral Hood when the question had been posed. They had been discussing what Humanity had gone through following the end of the war when Hood had asked him.

"What do you intend to do now, John?" The Admiral had inquired.

"Well, sir." He said hesitantly; "I was considering...retirement."  
Hoods eyes widened; "Retire?" He asked; "You wish to retire, John?"

John nodded; "Yes, Sir." He nodded slowly; "I've been thinking about it ever since I was picked up off of the Dawn, sir."  
"Are you sure, John?" Hood inquired, smiling slightly. He would miss John. The UNSC would miss the efficiency of the Spartan. John had an uncanny efficiency when it came to missions with a low chance of surviving.

"I'm sure, sir."

Hood got to his feet; "Well then, John." He smiled and held out his hand; "Is there anywhere you had in mind?" He asked.

John nodded; "Yes, sir." He shook Hoods hand; "Cortana told me about a new colony where Humans and the Republic races all live in peace."  
Hood grinned; "Elysium?" He asked and when John nodded he chuckled; "The Demon of the Covenant living amongst them. Sounds good." And John nodded; "Sir, I do have on last request."  
"And what would that be John?" He asked.

"May I keep the armour. I know it is UNSC property but..."  
"Son." Hood patted John on his armoured shoulder; "As far as I'm concerned, that armour is yours. No one else has a right to that armour."

"Thank you, sir." John couldn't help but smile.

"I trust Cortana is going to arrange it all for you." John nodded; "And her rampancy?"  
"Halsey believes she has given Cortana a few more years before she is forced to either deactivate her, or try and push the rampancy back again." John said sadly. For so many years, Cortana had been his rock. The one that kept him sane in the war and kept him grounded. John felt almost bad that he was retiring.

"I'll arrange your retirement papers and you can fill them out and that will be it done."

"Thank you, sir." He nodded.

_**High Honour space station – Sanghelios – Kora 'Zamas**_

Kora knew that she was hated. The Public hated her. The Senate hated her. And the President hated her. But Kora had connections, Kora's mother was a religious leader on Sanghelios and had many followers and enough influence to get people to vote her way. Her father was also a senator, and he had been for decades, his support and supporters also voted for her and it had been enough to get her in for this term. It had also been enough to get her into a Special Operations unit during the war, and how she was now also the leader of the Fleet of Righteous Fury. But Kora knew she had annoyed people and would be unlikely to get a second term as Vice President or ever serve as President. She needed to make sure people remembered her. And right now, she felt that chance slipping away from her.

"So." She spoke putting hate into her voice; "Our people are attacked and take casualties because we were assisting humans," Kora's dislike for Humanity and the fragile peace between Humanity and the Republic and was all in favour of restarting the war; "And now, you do not want to march on the enemy that took their lives." She gave the Sangheili version of a smirk; "Maybe you have lost your nerve, Arbiter!" Kora was currently in a meeting with President Lidam, the Arbiter and Rtas Vadum. They were discussing the course of action that the Republic should take on the war before Lidam made an executive decision or sent the decision to the Senate.

The Arbiter let out a growl; "What makes you think you can get off with talking to me like I am a useless commander or a fresh recruit out of basic training?" He demanded.

"I think I can talk to you anyway I wish due to my superior office." She retorted.

Rtas banged his fist down on the table; "Enough! As much as it pains me to do this. I have to agree with Kora." He said looking at Arbiter; "I am sorry Thel, but the Turians have taken Republic lives and they must pay for that."  
The Arbiter shook his head; "You do not understand the situation." He looked at Lidam; "Your excellency, give me a fleet, and I will head for the Citadel and force peace terms on the Council."  
"And if we inflict one massive defeat on the Turians, they will accept surrender on terms that massively favour us." Kora said and Rtas nodded in agreement.

"We want to show the Council races that we are force to be reckoned with. One that will never take an attack lying down." Rtas nodded.

"And to do that we must put more lives on the line?" Arbiter questioned.

Lidam held up his hand and the room instantly fell silent. He didn't speak for a few seconds; "I have heard enough. Arbiter, I am sorry, but I agree with Rtas and Kora, but despite this I refuse to send a Republic fleet to attack one of their home worlds." Kora opened her mouth to speak; "Be silent." Lidam snapped; "The Codex grants us access to their star charts. Through them we have access to the layout of their planets." Kora smiled; "We will target a populated planet with a large military presence, wipe out any defences they have around the planet and wipe out their troops on the ground." The three Sangheili nodded; "The Fleet of Righteous Fury will conduct the attack." Kora's eyes glittered with delight, while Arbiter and Rtas looked furious.

"Your excellency." Rtas spoke first; "Both myself and the Arbiter have more military experience than..." He was cut off.

"Kora will command this fleet." Lidam snapped; "And that is my final decision." He turned to Kora; "You are dismissed. Ready your fleet to leave."  
"Yes, your excellency." She pressed her hand to her chest in a salute before leaving the room. As soon as the door slipped closed behind her, the Arbiter spoke up.

"Explain why you came to this decision?" He growled angrily.

"It's simple." Lidam shrugged; "Her fleet is the smallest fleet and if she succeeds in her task, then we can force peace on the Turians. If she fails, hopefully she will get herself killed and then we no longer have to deal with her and even if she survives, I will be able to remove and disgrace her enough that she will never be a problem again.

Rtas gave a deep laugh; "You are a crafty one." He laughed again; "Send her into the jaws of the wolf and hope she gets bitten. I like it."  
"And what do the Humans think of our course of action?" Arbiter inquired.

"Humanity does not want to get involved but if it turns out that the Turians are more efficient against us then we had figured and counter attack into our space, then they will come to our aid." Lidam explained and the Arbiter nodded.

"Then I believe it is time for the Turians to find out what happens when you attack the Republic." Rtas exclaimed.

"Prepare your fleets." Lidam said, after the two Sangheili got to their feet; "After the attack, you two will take your fleets to the Citadel."

_**Three days later – Monex – Turian Military Base**_

_**Saren Arterius**_

There were a few things that Saren hated. Being on patrol was one of them. He was only a few weeks out of training on Palaven and had been deployed to Monex. Monex was one of the largest Turian military bases and it had been bustling with activity lately after the encounter over Thessia, the Council was sure that an attack was going to come from one of the two races that had been attacked by Admiral Gailianus and his task force. However as it was, the Council forces were spread quite thin trying to cover all the planets under their control. The only race that hadn't been slightly worried by the news of the attack was the Batarians who were aggressively confident about their chances if they were attacked.

Saren climbed over the trunk of a fallen tree and grunted when he landed. His two comrades landed beside him. The others were just grunts to him. Regular infantry and he had no time for them. Saren had completed Black Watch training. He was superior to them.

Saren's com buzzed; "This is Command to all patrols. Return to base." The voice of his brother Partex came through. His brother was the commander of the garrison forces on the planet.

"Commander." Saren responded; "Why are all patrols being recalled?" He inquired.

"An enemy fleet has appeared in system. All troops must return to base." Partex responded and Saren felt a small bit of fear flash through him. It was one thing to be trained for something, it was another thing to do it.

"We are en-route!" Saren growled as he took off at a jog back the way they had come.

They emerged from the forest just in time to be able to view purple shapes dropping down towards the city. Purple fire laced from them and explosions erupted around the shapes. Clearly the defenders were fighting back. Saren expected nothing less of them

Saren and his companions were at the top of a steep hill, which led down to a scouting camp. They had a vehicle at the bottom of the hill which would allow them to reach the city faster, but they had to follow a path that would take them nearly twenty minutes to traverse.

"We need to get down." Saren turned to his companions; "If we use our biotics we can land safely if we jump."  
"Jump?! Are you crazy Saren?!" One of them asked.

"I'm not jumping!" The other shouted and Saren growled at them.

"Cowards!" He growled, glowing as he let his biotics engulf him; "I will go myself!" He said before flinging himself backwards and using his biotics to slow his fall so he landed gracefully.

He looked up at the two who had remained behind and made an obscene gesture to them before he climbed into the drivers seat of the vehicle and sped back towards the city.

_**Monex – Partex Arterius**_

"General!" Commander Jaltez shouted as he entered the command center, and Partex looked up at him.

"Report!" Partex growled.

"The check points are holding, but they are being pressed hard." Jaltez paused; "The Patrols are reporting back in. We have yet to hear from your brother."

Partex was silent for a moment. The attack had come very quickly and the defence fleet had been quickly overrun. Partex had no idea how many ships the enemy had or how many troops his soldiers would have to deal with; "Saren can handle himself Jaltez. I am not worried about him. Are there any areas that need reinforced?"

"The enemy are threatening to break through the center. They have armour support."  
"Scramble air support to deal with their armour." Jaltez hurried from the room as an explosion rocked the command building.

_**Monex – Saren Arterius**_

Saren threw himself from the vehicle as the ball of green energy hit the front, he managed to roll when he landed and come up with his rifle ready. His eyes locked on the creature that fired. It was a small creature with a large protrusion under it's black uniform. There were four more creatures with it, but only this one carried what looked liked a anti vehicle weapon. Saren pulled the trigger on his rifle and let off a burst, the three rounds impacted the creatures head and a spray of blood erupted and the creature fell back. Saren managed to put five more rounds into the chest of another and roll behind cover before the other three returned fire. The green bolts impacted the ground where Saren had been. The Turian ducked out of cover and fired back. None of these rounds hit home and the creatures kept firing. Saren kept his head down as the rounds flew over the cover and over his head. Ripping a grenade from his belt, Saren blindly threw it over the cover, smiling with satisfaction at the cries of pain and death when it went off.

Saren spun up and out of cover firing a final burst into the chest of the final trooper, which fell dead before he could react. Saren let himself smiled, a smile that completely faded when an invisible force suddenly kicked his rifle from his hand and before Saren could react, it felt like a hand had wrapped around his throat as he was lifted into the air.

Before Saren's eyes another alien suddenly de-cloaked. It was much taller than the other ones that he had just killed and it growled and flicked it's hand and two blades of a glowing substance erupted from a handle clasped in it's hand. It pulled it's hand back with the intent of impaling Saren through the stomach, but it had underestimated the Turian. A purple glow surrounded Saren and he thrust his hands towards the Alien, a biotic wave throwing the creature back. Saren landed hard on his back, but quickly scrambled to his feet. He looked around for his rifle but couldn't see it, so turned to face the creature, activating his omni-blade and taking up a defensive stance as the creature charged. Plasma smashed against Hard light and Saren was nearly forced back from the force of the two blades hitting each other and grunted. The creature was fast and slashed it's blade left in an attempt to decapitate the Turian, who rolled under the blade and lashed out at the creatures foot with his blade. The creature jumped back and let out a throaty laugh before shouting at Saren in it's native tongue and jumping forwards slashing the blade down towards Saren who only just managed to slip away as the blade smashed down where he had been.

Saren cursed and slashed out with his omni-blade towards the same spot on the creatures leg and again it jumped back, giving Saren a chance to climb to his feet and adopt another defensive stance. The creature charged and Saren countered with a biotic shock-wave before lunging forward with a biotic charge slashing out with the blade, aiming for the creatures throat. The thing tried to get his sword up to block, but it miscalculated and the omni-blade slashed through his wrist, severing his hand and the hand and the energy sword dropped to the ground with a splash of blood and the creature growled angrily as Saren advanced. Saren smiled widely in victory, but the smile faded as the creature rolled backwards and onto it's feet, activating a second energy sword in it's other hand. It growled and charged again.

Saren sidestepped the attack and hit the creature with a warp before slashing down with his omni-blade. The blade sliced through the creatures throat and blood splashed onto Saren's armour. The creature gurgled on it's blood before collapsing to the ground with a thump. It was dead.

Saren deactivated his omni-blade and crouched down next to the creature and pulled the handle to the energy sword out of its grasp and placed it in a compartment on his armour. He added the first sword as well before scooping up his rifle and attaching it to his back. He pressed his hand to his comm unit; "This is Lieutenant Arterius to command." He spoke surveying the damage around him. The dead aliens, some dead Turians and the destroyed vehicle; "I need a sit-rep?"

"This is Commander Jaltez to Lieutenant Arterius." His com crackled; "The flanks are holding. But the center is breaking and there is a flanking force advancing towards you. I will divert some troops to help you, but you must hold that street. If that force gets through, we will lose the planet."  
"Roger that, Commander. You can count on me." Saren responded before he cut the com and drew his rifle and looked around. 'Time to dig in.' He thought as he headed for cover.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 4**

_**Monex town center – Saren Arterius**_

Saren rolled away as the plasma grenade went off and he felt the edge of the plasma burn slightly. He rolled up into a crouch and pinged off four rounds, which bounced off the shields of the group of enemies approaching, one of the larger enemies that he had fought before was behind them spurring them on towards Saren's defensive position.

Saren looked to the heavens and swore impressively before firing some more rounds down the street towards the approaching aliens. This time, the rounds hit home. The first two smashing into the aliens exposed hand, and the alien flinched back exposing it's torso and Saren smashed two more rounds into the creatures chest and it dropped down dead. Saren immediately dived back into cover as the aliens returned fire and the fire hit the ground where he had been. The Aliens were getting closer and Saren wasn't sure if he could hold them back much longer.

The large Alien let out a roar and thrust its arm towards Saren, when there was suddenly a low, flat gunshot, and the aliens shield shattered. A second shot pierced the aliens head and blew a large hole in the back of its head. The alien dropped silently as Saren's com crackled to life.

"This is Specialist Vecus Vakarian." A voice crackled just as another sniper rifle round nailed one of the shielded aliens in the arm and another smashed into it's head; "To Lieutenant Saren Arterius, I have established over watch and will provide you with sniper support."

Saren pressed his com unit; "Vakarian, did command send anymore support?" The sniper fired again before responding.

"A skirmisher unit is en route but has been delayed. Until then, it's just you and me." Saren could just picture the grin on Vecus's face as Saren leaned out of cover and let loose on one of the short stumpy aliens which gave out a cry before collapsing.

"Can you see how many of them there are?" Saren asked as he ducked back into cover; "My view from here is kind of limited." He added as plasma slammed into his cover.

"Well..." Vecus trailed off for a couple of seconds; "...there's a lot of them, Saren. We could be in trouble here." His rifle fired again and Saren threw his fire in with Vecus and together they took down another one of the large aliens; "Can you get in touch with command?" He asked of Vecus as he unholstered his pistol and laid it beside him; "We need air support!"

He stepped out to fire, but a green plasma round scrapped the left of his face and he felt a burning pain sear through his left eye and he growled in pain as he fell to the ground. He could hear Vecus firing his rifle as he rolled back into cover. The adrenaline quickly over rode the pain, but his vision in that eye didn't return. Saren scooped up his rifle from where it had fallen and took a moment to steel his nerves before pushing himself up and opening fire on one of the aliens clasping a shield, but the bullets didn't find a mark.

Saren dropped back into cover as Vecus's voice rang in his ear; "Saren!" He shouted; "They are massing for another attack. They are going to over run you. I recommend that you fall back to a better position."

Saren risked a peak over his cover and saw that the enemy were massing behind a few ranks of the aliens with the personal shields. Saren swore under his breath; "You'll cover me. Right Vecus?"  
"Of course." Vecus responded as his rifle barked and took out an unshielded alien; "Just make it quick!" He said as he fired again. This shot pinging off a shield.

Saren jumped up and sprung forward. Using his biotics to increase his speed, he quickly reached the top of the street and ducked into a doorway; "Vecus pull back." Saren ordered.  
"Cover me."

Saren pulled a grenade off his belt and ignited it. Spinning out of cover he threw it as hard as he could and it landed in the middle of the shielded aliens and tore their ranks apart when it exploded. Saren briefly registered Vecus moving past him as he raised his rifle and let off a couple of rounds before turning and following the older Turian down the alleyway.

"This is Lieutenant Arterius to Command. I have been forced to retreat, I could not hold my position!"

"Saren." His brothers voice replied; "A black watch team has nearly reached your position! You cannot allow the enemy to reach the town center!" his brother sounded desperate and an explosion sounded over the com unit.

"We will establish a secondary point and hold them there." Saren said as he ran.

"That is acceptable." Partex paused; "And brother? Come back alive." with that, he killed the com.

Saren and Vecus ran for a few more minutes until they reached a point in the road where an overturned vehicle blocked most of the road, leaving only a small space on one side to pass through. Saren instantly knew that he had found his defensive position; "Vecus." he said and the Specialist stopped and looked at Saren; "Get into an over-watch position. We need to hold them here."

Vacus nodded and headed off down a side street as Saren moved behind the vehicle and couldn't help but grimace when he saw what was behind it. A dead Turian. The Turian had nearly been cut in half by what looked like an energy weapon. Probably the same weapons as the Alien that Saren had fought had used.

However, clutched in the Turian's hands was a rocket launcher. Saren grabbed a hold of the weapon and took it for himself, slotting it onto his back. The weapon may prove useful later on.

"Saren. Enemies are getting close." Vecus reported as Saren slipped hard up against the vehicle and drew his assault rifle; "I am opening fire." The speech was accompanied by the dull fire of Vecus's sniper rifle.

Saren peeked out to see how far away they were and ducked back in as a blue bolt of plasma streamed past. He popped out, fired once and ducked back in as more plasma streamed past. Saren swore as the stream continued for a few seconds before stopping. Vecus's rifle fired again and Saren heard a shout of pain and couldn't help the smile that crossed his face.

Saren ducked round the corner and as if from nowhere, a force hit him square in the face and Saren stumbled back and fell to the ground. His weapon falling from his hands as a large black armoured Alien appeared above him. Saren activated his omni-blade and made to slice at the Alien. But the Alien placed a black armoured boot on Saren's arm and there was a loud crack as he pressed his boot down. Saren howled in pain.

"You have killed many of my comrades, Turian." The Alien's voice came from behind his helmet in a robotic voice. As he spoke he activated an energy sword; "It is only right that you suffer for what you have done." The Alien moved his sword to the arm he had pinned and sliced off Saren's hand, earning another howl of pain from the young Turian. The Alien laughed; "I thought your race was tough. From the ones I have killed so far. I have begun to believe other wise." The Alien flicked it blade again and sliced Saren's arm off at the socket, earning another howl; "Have some dignity whelp!" The Alien growled and made to stab his blade into Saren's face when a shape suddenly smashed into the side of it.

The Alien growled and slipped off of Saren, but the tips of it's blade sliced across Saren's eyes, blinding the undamaged eye. The Alien tried to get it's blade round to attack the shape. But Vecus stabbed his omni-blade down again and again into the aliens chest, not stopping until the Alien stopped moving. Vecus rolled off the dead body and scrambled to his feet and slipped across to Saren, barely registering as Turian's slipped past him and into defensive positions.

Vecus fought the urge to throw up as he gazed at Saren. The Turian was a mess. A shadow of his former self. Blood was everywhere and the remains of the Turians arm were strew around him. But what really got to Vecus was Saren's eyes. There was an ugly burn mark across his face and his eyes were devastated.

"Medic!" Vecus screamed as he dropped to Saren's side. This was not the younger Turians time to die, Vecus could tell that. He had a feeling in this gut that Saren had a destiny and it wasn't to die here.

_**Elysium – John 117**_

Elysium was a colony like no other. It was one of the only colonies in the galaxy where Humans and the Republic races lived together. There wasn't always peace. Sometimes there would be arguments and fights between Humans and their ex covenant counter parts, but on Elysium, they were few and far between and it was, overall, a peaceful place to retire too.

The town of Vertani in the northern hemisphere of the planet was as small and as peaceful as a well known town could be. It reminded John of videos he had seen of old Earth villages. From what he had heard there was a main street with a couple of shops on it and the village was built around that street. And there wasn't many houses. Only a dozen at the most and they were evenly spread out across a small area of land.

John was currently sat in the drivers seat of a converted warthog on a hill over the town. The gun had been removed and the area that had held it had been converted into a flat bed, making the Warthog into a pickup truck. The Warthog had also been sprayed black instead of it's usual shade of green. John turned away from the view and pressed his foot down gently and the Warthog slipped forwards down an incline. The town was his destination and he was looking forward to getting there. The sun shown down on him as he drove and John had to admit that he loved the feeling of the sun on his skin, but he also felt naked without his armour on. The armour in question was in a sealed metal case in the bed of the truck. Said case was strapped down to make sure it didn't slide about in the truck bed. Not that a simple bump would damage it's contents, John knew that.

It took John less than ten minutes to drive the short distance into town, and he was pleased to note that the town was exactly as he had expected it to be. People walked around between shops, work and home, but it wasn't rushed. It all seemed very...tranquil. Very calm. John liked what he was seeing so far.

Cortana and Hood had helped find John a home in the town. Well Cortana had found the home, Hood had made sure that John's move there was kept quiet. Very few people actually knew where he was at the minute. Hood and Cortana made two. Thomas Laskey, a man who John had become friendly with on the journey home from Thessia, made three. Doctor Halsey made four. Halsey had in fact promised to come past next month just to check in on John and make sure he was settling in alright. The Arbiter made five. John still found it slightly strange to be able to call a Sangheili his friend, but it also felt good. And Hood had informed his new neighbours both war veterans, one an ODST the other an ONI operative, who he was and asked that they look out for him and make sure he settled alright. The couple had agreed and even seemed quite excited to have the Spartan as a neighbour.

As John drove through the quiet town, he saw what was clearly a diner with a sign in both Human and Sangheili which read 'Mikes diner: Anybody and Everybody welcome' John smiled slightly and pulled the warthog over at the side of the road and killed the engine. He ran his hands through his shaved hair and looked down at himself. He was dressed simply in a UNSC marked vest and combat trousers. Was he dressed to go in and eat? His stomach rumbled in response and that seemed like a good enough answer for him.

Climbing out of the Warthog, John waiting for a Sangheili to pass him, the Sangheili gave John a polite nod, one which the Spartan returned before striding across the pavement and pushing open the door to the diner.

The diner was styled in a style that John had once again only seen in videos. It was done in the style of a period of Earth history called the 1950s. The tables were mainly booths situated along the window and walls, with a few traditional tables taking up some more space. A female Sangheili stood by a small table by the door. She smiled when John entered.

"Good afternoon, sir." The Sangheili greeted him; "And welcome to Mikes. Table for one?" John returned her smile and nodded; "Booth or table?" She inquired as she grabbed a menu.

"Booth." John replied after a moment and the Sangheili nodded and led him through the diner and to an empty booth in the corner with a good view of his vehicle and the street; "Thank you." John said as he sat down and took the menu from the Sangheili.

"I'll send a waitress over in a few minutes." The Sangheili said with a nod and moved back towards the door as John started to inspect the menu. After years of living on army rations, it would feel good to get some proper food in his system.

_**Monex – Vecus Vakarian**_

Vecus fired a shot with amazing precision and killed another large Alien. The Turian squad was managing to hold the barricade, but only just. The Aliens were throwing themselves at the barricade, trying to break through. They were having no success. The Aliens had tried to flank the barricade, but the arrival of two Black Watch Paladins (Black Watch soldiers with very strong biotics) had helped them hold the flanks. A couple of medics had set up a makeshift aid post in a nearby building and were doing what they could for the wounded. Vecus had no idea how well the rest of the Turian forces were holding across the city. He just prayed that they were holding out and hadn't been pushed back. If they had, it put the Black Watches position in danger.

"Vakarian!" The voice of the Black Watch commander sounded in his com; "Command reports that we've got enemy tanks in bound to our position. Can you confirm?"

Vecus was silent for a moment as he looked down the scope on his rifle, scanning the bottom of the street. He couldn't see anything that could potentially be a tank. Just more Alien infantry massing for an attack; "Negative, sir. I cannot see any..." He stopped speaking as a bright blue ball ascended into the air in an arch and headed towards the vehicle blocking the road; "Incoming fire!" Vecus screamed; "Fall back!" The Turian Black Watch troopers started to move, but for a few, the warning came too late as the ball slammed into vehicle and exploded in a blue burst. Vecus watched a few Turians fly through the air and he was pretty sure one was even incinerated.

"All Black Watch forces fall back to the second defensive point!" The commander roared as the Alien infantry started to advance. They came forward quickly at a run, clearly intent on over running the Black Watch.

Vecus raised the scope to his eye. Picked a target and fired. The Alien dropped down and Vecus selected another target and fired again. A second Alien dropped; "This is Specialist Vakarian. I will cover the retreat." He said, waiting a few seconds for his rifle to cool down and then firing another shot.

"As soon as we get to the position, you fall back. Got it Vakarian?!"

"Yes, sir." Vecus confirmed as he fired a fourth shot and took down a fourth alien. The rest still came on at a run. Vecus glanced over his shoulder and saw that the Black Watch had nearly reached the second position. Vecus raised himself to a crouch and fired one last shot before turning to run. The rooftop he was on and the next one along were built close together and the next one was slightly lower, so Vecus easily made the jump onto the next rooftop. From there, Vecus moved towards the ground.

It took him just over thirty seconds to reach the ground and as he ran Vecus attached his rifle to his back and drew his Vindicator assault rifle, he figured that if he ran into any hostiles then it would be at close to medium range and that his assault rifle would be of more use then the sniper. The Turian turned down a side alley and sprinted along to the end of the street and took the right turn at the end and dashed the short distance that would take him out onto the street not far from the black watches position. He exited the second alley and headed straight for the barricade.

This barricade was different from the last. This one was a proper military barricade. Two light vehicles blocked the street, each vehicle had a mounted machine gun on the back and a third turret had been set up in a small gap between the two vehicles. Vecus slipped through the gap between the turret and one of the vehicles and was immediately approached by an officer.

"Specialist Vakarian." The Turian said; "My name is Lieutenant Adrien Victus. Command wants the wounded evacuated back to HQ. I want you to take charge of the unit and make sure they get back."

Vecus frowned; "But, sir." He began to protest, but Victus held up his hand to silence the sniper.

"I have snipers here already and more than enough men. The General wants the men pulled back. Especially his brother." Victus explained and Vecus nodded; "And I've heard that you have a reputation as a soldier that gets things done. So do it."

Vecus saluted; "Yes, sir." He nodded.

"Get them out of here and if we all survive this then I'll put your name forward for promotion." Victus said as Vecus turned away and started to jog away from the barricade. Just as the turrets opened up.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 5**

_**Monex – the Fleet of Righteous Fury – Kora 'Zamas**_

"Vice President, communication coming in from the President." An officer reported.

"Let me hear it." Kora ordered from where she sat on the bridge of her ship. A small holographic projection of Lidam appeared before Kora. The Uggoy had it's arms folded over it's chest.

"Kora, how does the attack go?" Lidam asked.  
Kora sighed; "Not well, your excellency."

"Not well?" Lidam asked.  
"The Turians are holding their positions better then we had thought they would." Kora explained; "My troops are still advancing, but..."  
"But nothing!" Lidam snapped; "The Arbiter and Rtas are heading for the Citadel in just a few hours. You have until the night cycle of Monex to either capture it or cause enough damage to show the Turians that a war with us would not be in their best interests. Cut communication." Lidam growled and his hologram disappeared and Kora sighed.

"Vice President, should I prepare to launch Scarabs?" Her XO requested and Kora shook her head; "But Vice President, they would easily reach their command building and..." Kora held up her hand and the Sangheili stopped speaking.

"Pull all forces back to the ships." She said slowly.

"We are retreating?"

Kora shook her head; "When all the troops are on board." She paused; "Move a cruiser into low orbit and bombard the city." There was silence on the bridge; "Well?" She growled; "Relay my orders!" The bridge crew went to work. No one spoke there was just a silence as they prepared to give the orders to glass Monex.

_**Monex – Specialist Vecus Vakarian**_

Vecus had managed to get a few vehicles, one troop transport and a couple of civilian transports to get the wounded away from the front lines. He had been contacted by Partex and ordered to get the wounded not to the HQ but to the nearby Air Base where a series of light aircraft were being prepared in what remained of the base to evacuate the wounded to the other side of the planet and hopefully away from the Alien forces. What was left of the Turian fighter squadrons, two full squadrons were going to provide air cover and try and keep the enemy flyers off their backs, but hopefully the transports would be able to get far enough away before the enemy realised that they had left.

Vecus checked the last vehicle to make sure that the wounded were secure inside it and when he was sure that they were, he pulled himself up in next to them and banged on the side; "Lets get moving!" He shouted and the three vehicle convoy started moving away from the front lines and towards the Air base. Vecus felt slightly uneasy about leaving the battle front, but he pushed the feeling down, what he was doing just now was just as important as fighting the enemy.

The Vehicles kept up a steady pace through the battle gripped city and Vecus held on tightly as the vehicle hit a particularly violent bump. Vecus cursed softly as the vehicle continued on it's way towards the base. He pressed his com link; "This is Specialist Vakarian to Lieutenant Victus, can I get a sit rep?"  
The reply came instantly; "The enemy forces are performing a fighting retreat, Vakarian." Victus reported; "Command has ordered that we hold our position and..." The com suddenly filled with static and Vecus swore as he pulled his hand away from his ear and cut the link. He spotted the enemies purple ships flying away from the surface in droves. 'Why were they retreating?' Vecus couldn't help but wonder what reason the enemy had for retreating. Their forces clearly outnumbered the Turian forces, maybe they had taken so many casualties that their commander had ordered them to fall back? Or maybe they had something else planned? Vecus didn't know, and he also knew that for him it didn't really matter. He just had to focus on his objective and make sure he got as many of the wounded away from here as possible.

"Vakarian, are you there?" Victus's voice spoke through the com; "Was that static on your end?"  
"Not sure, Lieutenant." Vecus answered; "I think it was just interference, not sure what caused it though."  
"How is your progress, Specialist?"

"We are nearly halfway to the base." Vecus paused; "Lieutenant, is there a point in us removing the wounded if the enemy is retreating?"

"Command believes that the enemy has another attack planned and are preparing to launch it as we speak."

"Why would they pull all their forces back though?" Vecus inquired.  
"Just do your job specialist and let your superiors worry about...Spirits!" Victus suddenly shouted, there was a buzz in Vecus's ear and Victus continued; "This is Lieutenant Victus to Command. Enemy ship is entering low orbit above the city!" The Lieutenant was shouting. Vecus shifted and gazed upwards. A large enemy ship was floating into position above the city, just as Victus had said; "I think..." Victus trailed off as a bright light started to emanate from the belly of the ship; "Oh spirits!" Suddenly and with an ear shattering sound, the light shot downwards impacting the ground; "All forces abandon the city!" Victus shouted, making a call far above his rank and status.

Vecus swore as the ship started moving above the city, the beam causing mass damage and dealing death in numbers that Vecus didn't want to think about. What ever these Aliens called themselves, they were proving to be a match for the Turian Hierarchy.

_**Elysium – John 117**_

The house was... John wasn't sure how to describe it. The information that he owned a house was still trying to worm it's way into his mind. John gazed at it with a small amount of wonder and a massive amount of fear. It was not that he was regretting retiring, he wasn't, it was just that... now that he had done it and it had sunk in, it felt strange, almost wrong. He was a Spartan. A Machine of war. But...he was also human. Or was he? John wondered that a lot. Were Humans and Spartans the same thing or were they two completely different beings? Was a Spartan a different life form that just looked Human? John sure as hell didn't know and he was pretty sure he never would know.

John pulled the Warthog into the driveway and slowly climbed out. The House was big, huge by his standards, but he was a Spartan and could have survived with barely any room at all. But both Hood and Cortana had been insistent that they wanted him to not just survive, but live as well. The house was very old fashioned by today's standard. It's walls were wooden and white washed, the roof was slated and there was a front porch leading to a red door. The small garden was well tended and there was even a small fountain at the bottom of the garden. There weren't many houses nearby. The tiny development that the house was a part of only consisted of three houses. One was owned by John, another by the two people Hood had spoken too and the third was still unoccupied.

John walked round to the back of the Warthog and took out all the belongings he had. The silver case carrying his armour and a duffel bag filled with a few more items of army fatigues and his side arm. He carried the two bags to the door and put them down before unlocking the door and stepping inside with his belongings. He yawned as he entered, for someone who had just spent four years in a cryo sleep, he didn't have much energy and wanted nothing more than to sleep.

So that's what he did. He climbed upstairs and found the bedroom and simply collapsed on it and was almost instantly asleep.

He dreamed. Or had a nightmare or a vision. It wasn't clear what it was. He saw Spartans Twos. Or at least a few of them and other warriors fighting...something. The creatures they were fighting looked like deformations of Aliens he had seen pictures of. Deformed Turians and Batarians. All the Spartans had their number on their chests. He recognised some of them. Blue team. Kelly 087, Linda 058 and Fred 104. The others he didn't recognise, but that was because they had their backs to him, were fully armoured and he couldn't see a number. There were also a couple of Spartan Threes. Only one number was visible, B312, but he didn't recognise the number. The others looked like a mix of Aliens all in variations of the MJOLNIR armour system. He could recognise Asari, Turians and Salarians by the different shapes of their helmets. There was also a much larger one that John presumed was a Krogan.

Kelly was the only one without a helmet and her finger moved to her ear as the other soldiers fired at the creatures; "John!" She shouted; "Reaper troops are pressing us hard! Please tell me that you're close!" She was silent for a moment and raised her BR85HB SR battle rifle and fired off a burst straight into the head of a creature. Her hand flew back to her ear; "That's not good enough John! We are heavily outnumbered and need support!"

One of the deformed Turians attempted to jump the barrier, but Spartan B312 fired a large burst from it's MA5D into the creature which roared and died falling back over the barricade; "Ma'am." The Spartan said to Kelly in what was definitely a female voice; "I recommend we fall back to the second position."  
"We hold here!" Kelly shouted firing a few more bursts.

"We are heavily outnumbered and the Reaper troops are going to overwhelm us." B312 said, lobbing a grenade over cover.

"We are Spartans!" Kelly said looking into the Spartans black visor; "We will hold!"

Then the dream faded to black and John awoke in a cold sweat. Unsure about what he had just seen and what it was. He stayed where he lay for a few minutes just staring up at the ceiling. He was alert, his body ready for action, his senses sharp and looking for any threats. He slowly calmed down and wiped sweat from his brow.

_**Monex – Vecus Vakarian**_

They were on the aircraft. But they were a little bit more packed then Vecus had been expecting, Partex had ordered a complete evacuation and there were members of the Turian Black Watch including Lieutenant Victus on the same aircraft as Vecus and Saren. The Alien cruiser was destroying everything and to make matters worse, the enemy fighters were picking off the evac transports. The friendly fighters were trying to pick them off but were having little luck. The enemy ships were faster and more agile then they were, but the Turian pilots were still trying to stop them. The aircraft did have door gunners however and Turians manning those guns were managing to take out a few of the enemy. The guns dull clattering drowned out every other sound in the ship.

Vecus, however, was deep in thought and had pretty much drowned out the sound of the battle that was raging around his vehicle. The enemy that they were fighting had attack without warning and they had came on hard and fast, but the Turian military had managed to stop them. But what did that matter when the enemy would just bombard a city with cruiser fire. It reminded Vecus of the Krogan Rebellions when the Krogan slammed asteroids into Turian colonies. It was brutal and Vecus was shocked that the enemy had done it. Vecus glanced at Saren, who was heavily sedated and had had his wounds dressed, the Turian would need an artificial limb implanted and he would need cybernetic replacements for his eyes. But the Medics had informed Vecus that Saren would live, he might not be the same person that he had been before the attack, but he would live. And for that, Vecus was glad.

"General come in." Vecus heard Victus's voice. The Lieutenant had been sitting next to Vecus and speaking to Partex, but Vecus could tell that something was wrong; "General!" Victus shouted into his com.

"Have you lost the connection?" Vecus asked and Victus shook his head.

"I shouldn't have." He stood and crossed to a small window on the other side of the craft; "His ship is..." Victus trailed off as he realised there was no ship there. Then he noticed the flaming wreck that had just smashed to the planets surface. Victus swore and turned to Vecus; "The General's ship went down."  
Vecus looked at Victus in disbelief; "You must be mistaken." He stood and quickly crossed over to the younger Turian and added his own swear word when he saw the wreck in the distance.

Palaven had lost a hero. Vecus had lost a friend and Saren had lost a brother.

_**Elysium – John 117**_

He had again tried to sleep, but another dream had come. This one had been different from the last, but no less disturbing. He had seen an older Hood sitting behind his desk. The Admiral had looked tired. Not in a needing sleep way, but physically like he was reaching the end of his lift and across from him sat two people. One John recognised as a slightly older Dr Halsey and the other he had never seen before.

"You're telling me that this has been approved?" Hood asked, even his voice sounded tired, as he looked at Halsey.

"I wouldn't be here if it hadn't." Halsey responded folding her arms across her chest.

"I meant the council has approved this?" Hood countered and Halsey said nothing, giving Hood his answer. The Admiral sighed; "We have only just joined their ranks. Can you honestly tell me this is a good idea?"

"You told me you believe in the visions." Halsey said, smiling slightly; "Or were you lying?"  
"Of course I believe him, he has never let me down." The Admiral shook his head; "But this seems like a step too far."

Halsey laughed; "No, it is a step in the right direction. The Council has already said that they don't believe him and that he is just an ageing Spartan that is looking more into dreams then he should be." She shook her head; "When they come, my Spartans will be our best hope for survival, just as they were during the war against the Covenant."  
"There are other ways." Hood protested; "We could..."  
"This has already been approved and financed. I am only running this by you because John wanted me too." Halsey shook her head; "Admiral, I didn't want to say this, but the Doctors don't think you'll reach Christmas, let alone the time the first class of these Spartans are ready."

Hood was silent for a moment; "And these numbers are exact?" Halsey nodded; "Two hundred Human, two hundred Asari, one hundred Turians, one hundred Salarians, fifty Batarians, twenty Krogan, ten Quarians and ten Drell." Hood read the numbers off of the paper in front of him. The number was astronomical and he could hardly believe it; "You want to make six hundred and ninety new Spartans, from a variety of races. How much is this going to cost?"  
"The cost is of no concern to you." Halsey said bluntly, Hood nodded once more.

"And the success rate?" Hood asked.

"I have been working on this with Cortana and she believes she has gotten the process down to a ninety nine percent success rate." Hood let out a low whistle.

"You realise that if the Council discovers this, we are going to be in trouble?"  
"An understatement." Halsey nodded; "But yes I understand. I plan to use Reach as their home."

Xxxxx

That was when John woke up. Once again in a cold sweat and now completely determined to discuss this with Halsey when she arrived in a few short weeks.

_**AN: I am not completely sure about this chapter. I honestly do not think it is any good. Some feed back would be appreciated**_


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 6**

_**RSR Pride of Sanghelios – Thel Vadam (The Arbiter)**_

_**The Citadel**_

_**One day after the glassing of Monex**_

The Pride of Sanghelios dropped out of a slipspace jump near the citadel relay, forty other Republic ships followed behind it. Arbiter had his orders, he was not to engage the Citadel fleet, just make contact with the council and negotiate a peace treaty. If the Council did not want to negotiate terms then Arbiter was authorised to do what ever was necessary to force those terms onto the Council.

"This one needs to inform you that your fleet must stay where they are and that you must state your buisness." A voice spoke through the com line.

"This is Arbiter Thel Vadam of the Republic of Races." Arbiter spoke sitting up in his chair; "I request an audience with the Citadel Council."  
"This one will pass your request along." The voice responded; "A single ship may come forward and send a shuttle over to dock with the Citadel." the voice paused; "The Council will meet with you. Please send one ship forward."  
Arbiter growled quietly; "That will not be necessary. The entire fleet will advance." And with that he signalled to end the conversation and the communication was terminated.

Arbiter looked at Dipzim; "You have command of the fleet." Dipzim nodded and bowed.

"I will do my best, Arbiter." Dipzim responded as the Arbiter rose and left the bridge.

_**Five minutes later**_

The two Turians and two Asari in the blue uniforms looked terrified in the Arbiters eyes as he exited the Republic Phantom accompanied by a dozen black armoured Sangheili Special Operatives. One of the Turians stepped forward.

"My name is Venari Pallin." The Turian spoke, a tiny quiver that betrayed his fear in his voice; "I am the Head of citadel security and the council wanted me to meet you here and escort you to meet them." Pallin paused; "However, I had not been expecting so many body guards."

"Take me to the Council." Arbiter spoke; "I have no intention of listening to you talk."  
Pallin was silent for a second; "I am afraid I cannot allow twelve heavily armour individuals into the Council Chambers."  
Arbiter stared at the Turian knowing he could kill him before he even blinked an eye; "I will take two guards with me then."

Pallin nodded; "I will arrange for the rest to tour the Citadel?"  
Arbiter nodded; "That is acceptable." And with that the four C-Sec members and the thirteen Sangheili climbed into a nearby elevator.

It only took moments for Pallin to show the three Sangheili to the Council chambers. As soon as Arbiter entered the view of the council members, he could feel their eyes boring into him. There were three of them, an Asari, a Salarian and a Turian. The Turian was looking at him with pure hatred.

"Councillors." The Arbiter spoke as he walked forward onto a platform to address them; "I am Arbiter Thel Vadam of the Republic of Races. I am here to discuss a permanent end to hostilities between my race and that of the Turian Hierarchy."

The Turian scoffed; "You claim to want peace, yet the survivors of your attack on our colony of Monex only arrived on the Citadel yesterday. Why would you attack us if you wish for peace?"

"You Turians believe yourself to have the strongest military in the galaxy. We wanted to show you that you are wrong." The Turian clenched his fists.

"And you showed us that by retreating and blasting the entire city with some kind of energy weapon?!" He demanded.

Arbiter stiffened up. He had read Kora's mission report while the fleet had been en route to the Citadel and she had told a very different tale. Kora had reported that the colony had fallen easily when she had deployed Hunters to it's surface. From what this Turian was saying it sounded like a Glassing, as the Humans had taken to calling the Covenant Bombardments during the war; "The Commander in charge of that attack reported that her ground forces captured your city not that she bombarded the city."

"Then she lied!" The Turian shouted; "Do you need proof?!" The Turians arm glowed as he activated his omni tool and typed some command into it, a holographic picture projected itself in front of the other councillors and the Arbiter. It showed a land that had been devastated by what the Arbiter instantly confirmed as a plasma weapon. The Sangheili growled.

"Turian." He spoke slowly; "This was not in her orders, I will inform my superiors of this upon my return to my ship. But I must press for a declaration of peace."  
The Turian still looked furious, but the Asari councillor spoke before the Turian could respond; "My name is Tevos, I apologise for the way Sparatus greeted you, it was not appropriate for a councillor." The Asari paused; "The capabilities of your warships, Arbiter are very impressive and also very worrying."  
The Salarian took over; "Are these weapons used often in your wars?"

"Upon the forming of the Republic, orbital bombardment was only to be authorised under one condition." Arbiter explained.

"And what is that condition?" Sparatusground out.

"The Condition is one of my governments and the Human governments most highly classified secrets." As Arbiter spoke, he knew this would not go down well with the Council.

"Classified?!" Sparatus shouted; "You just destroyed a colony! If you want peace you must tell me. If not, the Hierarchy will mobilise for war."  
The Arbiter let out an audible sigh; "I will tell you, but I must request that only the four of us remain in the room." Tevos quickly ordered everyone else to leave which they did and the Arbiter spoke again; "The only name we have for it is the one that the Human leaders gave it. They call it the Keyes Protocol." He explained; "During the last days of the Human – Covenant war, a parasitic life form known only as the Flood played it's hand. The Flood can reproduce and grow by consuming sentient life forms of significant biomass and intelligence. The Flood is considered by my people as the largest risk to galactic security and if found on a planet, ships are authorised to use the Keyes Protocol. During the Keyes Protocol, a number of ships will fire on the planets surface, leaving it a wasteland and a burning shell of it's former self. It is the only way to make sure that the Flood do not survive the encounter. However, the flood are believed destroyed ever since the ending of the Human - Covenant war as we have yet to encounter more of them."

There was silence from the council as they processed the information. Tevos cleared her throat and spoke in a quiet voice; "You have proof of the existence of this life form?"

The Arbiter nodded; "And after peace is made official, I will transmit that data to the Council."  
"I am not convinced that this is not just a story to force peace upon my people." Sparatus voiced his concerns.

Arbiter looked at the Turian; "My race does not desire war. We fought a twenty seven year long war against the Humans and then against the ones we had fought aside for the duration of that war. Most of my race is tired of war. Mothers are tired of receiving news about their dead children and those children are tired of fighting." The Arbiter shook his head slowly and looked down at his feet.

Sparatus said nothing, but Tevos spoke; "I suggest that the Turians accept the offer of peace. A war with these people would clearly be long and drawn out."  
"The Salarian Union will not lend any support if the Turians decide to continue a war." The Salarian Councillor spoke.

"Valren..." Sparatus started, but Tevos cut him off.

"The Council exists to make decisions for the good of all it's members. The Turians are our main military force, if your military is destroyed in this war then the Council races will be basically defenceless, the military might of the Asari and Salarians is not enough to adequately protect our people."

Sparatus sighed and nodded; "Fine then. I will sign a peace treaty with the Republic."

The Arbiter smiled; "We should discuss terms then, Councillor.

_**Elysium – John 117**_

_**Four Days later**_

Another dream. This one was shorter and featured no one that John knew. He saw a world burning. He didn't know what world, but there were humans running. Strange, squid shaped ships were dropping towards the ground, firing large red beams that were burning everything in their path. At the end of the dream, a single word hissed out; "Reapers." In a voice that he knew.

John again woke with a cold sweat. Not because of what he had seen, but because of the voice. He knew that voice. It was a voice that he had hoped to never hear again. The voice belonged to the Gravemind. He never wanted to hear the voice again, even in a dream. It brought back horrible memories.

He needed to speak to Halsey and soon. Very soon. Hopefully she would be able to make sense of these dreams.

The rest of the night was spent in a dreamless sleep, one John was very happy about. And when he awoke the next morning, he was fully rested and ready to tackle the day. He started with a work out, press ups, pull ups, sit ups, a quick jog round the neighbour hood and finally he had gotten a punching bag installed in the houses basement and he would work it for a couple of hours.

Today was different however, today John had to work. He had chosen something well suited to his skill set. Which, lets be honest, featured mainly around killing, He had signed up as an instructor for the local planetary militia. The Militia wasn't very large, only thirty men and women, but John had made sure they were well equipped. He had managed to get a shipment of battle rifles for them. Rifles they had yet to receive because John didn't think they were ready yet.

John had received a visit from the Arbiter yesterday. It had been unexpected, but the two of them had caught up on the past few weeks. The Arbiter had told him all about his meeting with the Council and how Kora had vanished along with her most die hard supporters and her flagship and how the Republic was now hunting her down to put her on a charge of war crimes. He also told her about the newly created neutral zone being established between the Republics territory and that of the Councils. And despite the Council's wishes, they had refused to sign a treaty limiting the size of their ships. Apparently the Turian councillor had been very angry about this, and had almost backed out of deal, but the other Council members had convinced him to back down. Arbiter had also informed him of reports that the Asari were trying to convince Humanity to join the Citadel Council. John had been a little surprised about this, but agreed that it would probably be a good move for the Council and Humanity and should improve relations with the Sangheili and Turians.

John had even been in contact with his one of his old team mates. Kelly. Apparently Kelly had just gotten back from a long, classified, solo mission deep in Republic territory. As it was classified, she couldn't tell John what she had been up to, but she confirmed that it had been full of danger and that John would have loved it. All she got in response was a grin from the other Spartan. Kelly had also found it amazing that John had retired, she had been sure that he would have gone out with an assault rifle in his hands and an army of dead aliens around him. John had smirked and told her not to count him out of the fight just yet. He had also told her about the dreams/nightmares/visions he had been having and Kelly had been slightly concerned. She had expressed worry that John was looking into his dreams a bit much and trying to find a message that was not there. John had been skeptical that that is what had happened and informed her of his plans to go to Halsey about it.

John pushed all thoughts of Kelly out of his mind for the moment and headed to the main military camp on Elysium to begin his day of work.

_**The Citadel – Saren Arterius**_

Saren was depressed. Being told that he had lost his brother, his arm and his eyes all in one battle was enough to get anyone down. But Saren was determined not to let anyone else see that he was down. He had been given cybernetic implants to replace what he had lost. They helped, he was still getting used to them, but the loss of Partex was a bit too much for Saren. The improved eye sight that had been given to him from his cybernetic eyes had taken a couple of days to get used to, but he was struggling to get used to the arm. It was sleek, metallic black and gave him increased strength with it, but it was throwing his aim completely off when he tried to use his pistol.

That's where he currently was one of the C-Sec firing ranges trying to improve his aim. And he was failing terribly. After a fourth shot and this time just scraping the target he growled angrily and threw his pistol downrange at the target and missed again.

"Saren." He heard Vecus's voice behind him and he turned and gave the Specialist a fake smile; "How are you adapting with your arm?"  
"It's not easy." Saren shook his head; "The doctors said it would take a month to get used to it, but it's only been just over a week, but they say I am making amazing progress." Saren turned back to the range and swore when he remembered that his pistol was downrange now. Shaking his head, Saren deactivated the range and climbed over the small barricade and walked down towards his target and picked up his pistol which lay a few inches short and right of the target. He pressed a small button and the pistol collapsed and folded in on it's self and Saren stored it on the magnetic slot on his armour.

"I heard from Victus that Spartacus offered you an honourable discharge due to your injuries, but you have yet to respond to the offer?" Vecus asked.

Saren sighed and headed back to Vecus, he didn't responded until he had jumped the barricade and was next to the older Turian; "I am thinking about his offer. If the war was still being waged, I would turn him down immediately, but now..." Saren trailed off, clearly unsure.  
"I've decided that now is a good time to leave the military." Vecus said smiling slightly and continuing before Saren could speak; "I miss my wife and kids. I mean Garrus is nearly ten now." Saren's eyes widened.

"Garrus is nearly ten?" He asked; "What about your youngest?"  
"Solana is five now." Vecus nodded; "I am planning on moving them to the Citadel."  
"Why the Citadel?" Saren inquired as he made his way to exit the firing range, Vecus followed close behind him.

"I've applied to join C-Sec." Vecus paused; "You could join me, Saren."  
Saren looked at Vecus and chuckled softly; "Can you really see me as a C-Sec officer?" He asked.

Vecus shook his head as they headed out onto one of the wards; "Not a regular officer, but..." He thought for a moment; "A member of the armed response team perhaps?"  
Saren was silent for a minute as they walked; "It is a tempting offer. A steady job stationed in the heart of Citadel space, working with a friend and busting criminals with him." Saren chuckled and shook his head; "I dunno, Vecus." Saren finished as the two Turians entered an elevator that would take them up to the Presidium.

Vecus clapped his young friend on the shoulder; "You don't have to decide now, take as much time as you need."

Saren nodded, it was an offer he was seriously going to consider.

_**Elysium – John 117**_

_**That night**_

This time it was definitely a vision. Not a dream. And that made John worry. Again, he saw burning cities and the squids, but this time it was not Humans that were dying, it was Turians, then it switched to Asari, then Salarians and soon John had seen almost every Alien race he knew being massacred. And then there had been a bright flash and an Alien he did not recognise appeared. And it spoke, it seemed to speak directly at him.

"The Reapers will come." The voice was filled with poise and grace; "They will burn and slaughter all that you know. They have never been stopped before. They will use trickery and deceit to try and weaken you before they come. They will use any trick they can think of. But they will come and your worlds will burn." The image changed to that of a group of Aliens he had never seen before fighting Reaper troops; "The Prothean Empire fell to the Reapers. But they would not have beaten us. My race was the first to have any chance of beating them, but instead of face us, they used another force. They used the Flood." An image of Flood combat forms tearing apart Aliens that looked like the speaker appeared; "We fought them for nearly three hundred years, but in the end we could not beat them, we had to activate the Halo rings and let the Reapers win to eliminate the flood. The Forerunners may be gone. The Protheans may be gone. But..." It paused; "John..." It paused again; "Reclaimer. You must unite the galaxy around a single banner and face down the Reapers. Only you can do this. This is Humanity's destiny. Humanity is destined to lead the galaxy and break a cycle that has continued for millennia." There was a pause as another image appeared of John and a Turian with a cybernetic arm back to back, fighting against creatures that were not Reaper but looked like Bugs; "You will not fight alone." It changed again, now the Arbiter was in the picture; "Friends old and new will stand alongside you." An Asari in a red outfit that showed off her chest was glowing with biotics and helping the others fight off these bugs. Then more joined, very quickly. A Drell, a Salarian and a Krogan. All fighting with John and the others; "Many will not believe you, but when the time comes. To end the cycle you will make the ultimate sacrifice, not for Humanity..." A Quarian and a Geth were added to the picture along with the Spartan from an earlier dream B312; "...but for the entire galaxy."

_**AN: Once again, I am not sure how this chapter will go down and I am not 100% happy with it.**_

_**On another note. I have decided that I will let you the readers add a new character to this story. Not an already established character in either universe. But a completely new character. If you wish to then in a review I would like you to submit a character profile. Name, age, place of birth, role, race and where they meet up with John etc (I.E Spartan, Marine, ODST, Spectre or anything else that springs to mind) I hope I will get a few suggestions and I have decided that Saren will not be a villain**__**in this story, but John and Saren will encounter a Spectre gone rogue for a completely different reason **_


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 7**

_**Elysium – John 117**_

Halsey was settled in the guest room for the night, but John was still up, it's not that he wasn't tired, it was just that sleep wasn't coming easy for him at the minute. He had discussed his visions, John had decided they were visions, with Halsey and, unlike Kelly, Halsey had completely believed him. The fact that she had believed him without question had caused John a bit of surprise, but Halsey had reassured him that John had yet to become a liability to humanity, but John had seen something else in her eyes, something that he couldn't identify. But he had a feeling that Halsey was hiding something from him. Did she have proof of these Reapers? Or was John just making something out of nothing? He really didn't know. He planned on tying to find out, but if Halsey told him to drop it he would.

Xxxxx

It was the loud banging on the front door that woke both John and Halsey the next morning. John couldn't help it as he took his magnum out from under his pillow before he went downstairs to see who it was.

"John!" He heard a voice shout. It was one of his neighbours. His name was Edward Buck, John and Buck had become good friends over the past few weeks since John had arrived on the planet. Buck had been an ODST during the war and had seen plenty combat.

John pulled open the door frowning slightly when he saw that Buck was in full ODST armour and carrying two assault rifles; "Eddie? What the hells going on?"

"Batarian Slavers are hitting the colony!" He chucked one of the rifles to John who caught it; "We need to get down to the city and try and stop them!"

John shook his head; "You need to stay here and protect the Doctor and your family." Buck went to protest, but John held up his hand as Halsey joined him at the door; "This is Doctor Catherine Halsey, she is the head of ONI and a HVT. She must be protected."  
Buck nodded slowly; "What about you?"  
"I am going to head for the city and do what I do best." He said and Halsey nodded.

"Give them hell, Spartan." She said.

Xxxxx

Lieutenant Ashley Williams dove into cover just as the Batarians opened fire. She was fast enough, but the other two marines she was with were torn apart by the Batarians weapons fire. Ashley clutched her battle rifle to her chest as the Batarians fired at her position. They were using radiation rounds. She had already seen one marine hit with a flesh wound that killed him due to the radiation. It was not a pretty sight.

Smoke swirled around the colony from buildings that were burning and Ashley could hardly see six feet in front of her. She was steeling her nerves to attack when she noticed a figure approaching her position, she raised her rifle to open fire on it, when the figure raised a rifle of it's own but didn't fire on her, it fired it's weapon over the barricade at the Batarians and Ashley watched as two fell before they realised what was happening. The third was dead before he got his rifle halfway up. When Ashley turned her attention back to the figure, she felt her spirits take off with happiness. A Spartan.

"What's your name?" The Spartan asked as it crouched next to her. It's voice was deep and made Ashley feel slightly intimidated.

"Lieutenant Ashley Williams. Marine recon." She said as the Spartan looked over the barrier to see if anymore Batarians were approaching. They were clear for the moment.

"Master Chief Petty Officer John 117." John said, he wasn't sure why he gave his old rank, it just felt appropriate.

"117?" Ashley asked; "As in the Spartan 117?" John just nodded and Ashley's eyes widened; "What are you doing on Elysium?"  
John shook his head; "That doesn't matter, Ma'am. What matters is stopping these Batarians. What are your orders?" Ashley looked up at the Spartans face plate like he was crazy; "You are my superior officer. We need to stop the Batarians, what are your orders?"

Ashley was silent for a moment before nodding and getting to her feet; "The Batarians hit the main base in their first attack wave and wiped out most of the plants defenders. My squad was on patrol and didn't get hit until just a few moments ago. You pulled my ass out of the fire though." John just nodded; "A large number of the colonists headed for an attack shelter in the hills and we were trying to push through to them."  
"What about the rest of the colony?"

"ODST squad Orion under the command of a Lieutenant Kara Shepard is all that stands between the main Batarian force and the colonists." Ashley informed John as the Spartan reloaded his rifle; "Last I heard they were dug in and holding."

"I recommend that we move into the hills then and secure the shelter." John gave his opinion and Ashley nodded; "Lead on Spartan." John set off at a jog, making sure that Ashley was close behind him.

Xxxx

Miranda Lawson swore as she threw up a biotic barrier in front of herself. Miranda was an ONI operative, one of Halsey's best and was here as her unofficial guard. Halsey had dismissed her almost as soon as they had landed on the planet as she wouldn't need protection when she was staying with a Spartan. Miranda had agreed and had booked herself into a hotel content to jut relax and enjoy herself. Then everything had gone to hell and the Batarians had attacked. Now she was alone and defending the entrance to an attack shelter full of colonists from the slavers. Miranda was one of humanity's rare biotics and had been part of a side project of Halsey's when she was a child. The project had been codenamed 'Overlord' and had involved Halsey experimenting on children with a chemical called 'Substance One' in an attempt to create soldiers that could conjure biotic fields. There were new biotics on the way, after the government had learned about element zero, but projections stated that the Substance One biotics were much stronger then the new batch. The problem was that there had only been two survivors of project Overlord, and Miranda was the only one that was stable. The other girl called Jacqueline Nought had gone psychotic and was currently in cryo freezing in an ONI facility on Reach.

Miranda dropped her barrier and slipped into cover as the Batarians fired again. She was weakening and running out of ammo. If help didn't get here soon, then she was fucked, to be blunt. Miranda tightened her grip on her SMG and threw up another barrier as she stood up and fired at the Batarians. She fired short bursts into the chest and heads of the Batarians and killed two before she was forced down as her barrier broke. Miranda swore once again as she heard a Batarian laughing. Rounds from the Batarians rifles peppered her cover and Miranda was forced to keep her head down.

She felt fear grip her when she heard a Batarian shout; 'grenade' and she felt like this was it she was away to die. But then there was an explosion and a shout of pain from a Batarian followed by Human Assault Rifles clattering. Miranda stood up, threw a warp at a nearby Batarian and fired what was left of her ammo into the back of another. The fire fight was over before the Batarians really realised what happened, and Miranda was able to see who had come to her rescue. One of them was a female marine and the other was a large Spartan mark two. The two approached Miranda.

"Lieutenant Ashley Williams." The female said as she climbed over Miranda's cover, the Spartan doing the same; "Marine recon, are you alone here?"  
Miranda nodded; "Operative Miranda Lawson, Office of Naval Intelligence. None of the Marines that had been with the civilians made it here."

"Fuck." Ashley cursed; "Chief." She looked at the Spartan; "We need to try and get in contact with any forces in the surrounding area, but my helmet was damaged and I had to ditch it. I have no radio. Is yours operational?" John nodded; "Try and contact any friendly forces." John nodded and got on the radio as Ashley and Miranda went to check the Batarians make sure none were alive.

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 to any friendly forces on Elysium please respond." There was silence; "This is Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 to any friendly forces on Elysium please respond." This time there was a burst of static; "This is Master Chief..." This time John didn't get to finish his message as a voice spoke.

"This is Lieutenant Kara Shepard to John 117." The voice was crackly; "The Batarians keep coming!" John heard what sounded like a .50 Calibre machine gun clattering; "I am alone, but dug in! The Fifth fleet is on it's way! I repeat the Fifth fleet is on it's way!" then the transmission cut out, John instantly looked to Ashley.

"Ma'am, I made contact with Lieutenant Shepard!" John shouted.

Ashley jogged over as Miranda threw a warp into the face of a wounded Batarian, killing him; "Sit-rep, Chief!" Ashley demanded.

"She is alone and holding. The Fifth Fleet is on route." John reported.

"ETA?" Ashley inquired.

"She didn't..." Miranda cut John off.

"I'd say they have already arrived." She said calmly and pointed to the sky.

Small black dots streaked through the sky towards the capital. There was a trail of fire behind them. The dots were clearly SOEIV pods. The ODST's were dropping feet first into hell. The Batarians wouldn't know what they were in for.

_**The Space above Elysium**_

_**UNSC fifth fleet**_

_**Admiral Stephen Hackett**_

The Fifth Fleet was the second largest fleet the UNSC possessed. Ever since the war, Humanity had been building up it's fleets to prepare for the chance that they get pulled into another galactic war. Ships were being churned out at an amazing rate. Most of the ships were frigates and cruisers. Smaller ships that could still pack a punch. Hackett had been placed in command of one of the first Sol class Vessels. The Sol class was slightly larger then the Infinity class, but had a smaller crew. The Sol class was outfitted in largely the same way as the infinity class ships, but the Sol class had an extra MAC gun. The Sol Class had never seen combat, that was away to change.

The Batarian slave ships had only two ships that could be considered fight worthy and they looked like relics, old Turian ships, maybe from as far back as the Krogan Rebellions. Hackett smiled. He had a military fleet of Sixty five ships, the Batarians only had around twenty.

"All ships, this is Admiral Hackett, engage the Batarians. Take them all down." He spoke through a ship wide broadcast; A few of the smaller ships in his fleet opened fire. The fire not aimed at the warships, but at the slaver ships that were leaving the system.

Hackett's flagship, the Akira, targeted the nearest warship and on his order fired it's main gun. The Slug tore through the ship causing it to start to break apart. The other soon faced the same threat as it's ally, and it did no better as MAC fire cut it to pieces as well. The rest of the slaver vessels did not stand a chance as the rest of the fleet tore into them.

"This is Admiral Stephen Hackett to any ground forces. Can I get a situation report?" He spoke, hoping someone replied.

"Sir." A deep voice spoke; "The majority of the colonist made it. The Batarians didn't get any of us. But we lost a lot of good people."  
"And we killed a good lot of them." Hackett paused; "Who am I speaking to?"  
"Master Chief Petty officer Spartan John 117." The voice responded and Hackett frowned. 'What was a Spartan doing on Elysium?'

"What are you doing on Elysium, Spartan?"  
"I was trying to enjoy retirement, sir." The Spartan responded; "But if we are going after the leaders of this slaver group. Give me a rifle and a side arm and point me at them."

"Oh you can bet we are going after the leaders." Hackett responded; "No one attacks one of our colonies and just gets away with it." Slip space ruptures appeared nearby and Hackett watched as Republic ships exited them. At the fleets head was the Republic flagship The Pride of Sanghelios. The Arbiters ship. Elysium was a joint colony after all.

"Sir, the director of ONI was on the planet." John reported; "I left an ODST to protect her, but the Batarians never headed towards their position."  
"Roger that, Spartan. I will dispatch ODST's towards her position, just give me her location." John listed the coordinates; "ODST's will be there shortly."

"I read you, sir." John paused; "Master Chief out." With that the line died and Hackett turned to his com officer.

"Contact the Arbiter. We have a lot to discuss."

_**Six weeks later**_

_**Torfan**_

John was ready. He had been reinstated and he was ready. Ever since the attack on Elysium, the UNSC and their Republic allies had been hunting the Batarian Slavers down. The Republic vessels had mainly been used in operations in their own and UNSC space, the UNSC fleet had launched massive attacks against the Batarian slavers and pirates across their systems and even crossing into the Batarians own systems for a few raids. The Batarian pirates usually put up a token resistance in space and then fought their hardest when the UNSC landed troops. Brutal close quarter battles had been fought and casualties had been high for both sides. But the Marines and the ODSTs showed the pirates what they could do. No Spartans had yet to be deployed, Command was keeping them back for when they located the Slavers main base. And now they had.

Torfan. Torfan was a desolate moon that was being used by the slavers to launch raids across the system. The UNSC was sending the Fifth, seventh and eighth fleets to attack it, all under the command of Admiral Hackett.

ODST's would lead the way, hitting the forces that were defending the bases on the moons surface, then Marines would deploy and capture the beginnings of the tunnels down into the base and then the Spartans that had been assembled to the fleet would capture the nerve center of the base. The Batarians that had encountered John on Elysium had not lived to tell the tale and this time they were up against a whole lot more than one Spartan. Blue team was along for the ride, and they had nearly one hundred Spartan fours with them. The Fours were no where near as effective or deadly as the Twos, but they didn't need to be, Blue team were the ones that were going to seize the command center and kill everyone they found. The Fours were to cover every entrance and make sure no Batarians escaped.

John was encased in his armour, all apart from his helmet, which he held in his hands and looked into the face plate. His entire life. His entire life boiled down to training, leading, fighting and inspiring others to do the same. He was a Spartan. The Spartans were his brothers and sisters. They were his family. So many had been killed. But...

John smiled; "Spartans never die." He whispered.

"We just go missing in action." Kelly spoke from the door and John looked up at her and smiled; "Are you ready, John?"

John snorted; "Kelly." He turned his helmet round and slotted it over his head. There was a hiss as it sealed to his suit; "We were built for combat. We've faced down every enemy that has threatened humanity. I took out the Gravemind. Some Batarians won't be a challenge." John said as he stood up.

"Good to know you're ready to kick some ass." Kelly said as she flicked her hand and threw something across at John. His hand shot up and he caught it. An AI chip; "Hackett said that you might need her help." John nodded and slotted the chip into his armour. The feeling of having cold water poured over him passed quickly as the AI sighed.  
"So John, missed me?" Cortana asked and John chuckled.

"So was this Halsey's idea or yours?" John asked.  
"Mine." Cortana said, a hint of pride in her voice; "Halsey said that even a dumb AI would be able to hack the Batarian firewalls. But imagine how quick I will be able to do it."

"When does the attack start?" John inquired of Kelly, choosing to ignore Cortana's boasting.

"It's already begun." Kelly replied as she headed out of the room, John on her heels. They passed a duo of engineers who were moving in the other direction; "The Seventh fleet went ahead and disabled the Batarians surrounding ships. Then they deployed ODST's to the surface."  
"How are they progressing?"  
"I haven't heard a report." Kelly said as they entered a Turbo lift that would take them to the hanger.

"The ODST teams have met very little opposition in the surface structures and have set up positions around the entrances to the underground complex and are awaiting Marine support." Cortana responded; "It is believed that the Batarians will be spending the time they have to dig in and reinforce all entrances. This will not end with a low body count."

_**Surface of Torfan**_

_**1**__**st**__** Lieutenant Kara Shepard**_

Kara watched the drop ships descending from the UNSC ships in orbit and smiled under her helmet. The Batarians were fucked and she hoped they knew it. The UNSC had diverted a lot of forces here and they planned on completely taking apart any Batarians inside. Kara had been on Elysium, she had lost her squad to the Batarians and had single handedly protected the main body of colonists. Kara planned on killing every single Batarian that she could, and if she died while doing it, she planned to take as many of the four eyed fucks with her as she could.

"Ma'am." She heard a voice behind her and turned to look at the ODST before her. The trooper saluted.

"What can I do for you?" She asked as she saluted back.

"Sergeant Major Zaeed Massani." He gave his name and rank; "Colonel White says that the attack will begin in ten minutes. There has been a change of plans. ODST will spear head the attack and the Marines will provide back up." He saluted again.

"Rejoin your unit, Massani." Kara ordered as she turned away from him. This was much better. Instead of playing support to a bunch of Marines, she would get to lead the way and slaughter every Batarian she could.

The ten minutes passed quickly and just as the ten minute mark passed, everything was ready. Explosives were primed on the door and as the timer changed to 10:01 they were blown and the troopers and Marines rushed forward. They were hit almost instantly by weapons fire. A few of them fell, but ODST's had been given new armour following the end of the war that had a Republic level shield, meaning most of them got in close. Then the Batarians revealed a secret weapon. Flame-throwers. The flame licked out and coated troopers and marines. There were screams of pain, but they pushed on.

Kara was the first one over the barricade and fired a shell from her shotgun into one of the Batarians with a flame-thrower, his head exploded like Shepard had just crushed a grape between her fingers. She instantly flicked her gun round and fired another shell into the stomach of another flame-thrower wielder and before she knew it, the ODST were amongst their prey. The Batarians stood no chance against the Helljumpers in close quarter combat. Some troopers fired their weapons, some used combat knives, others used their hands and beat their enemy to death. By the time the last Batarian fell, Kara's armour was splashed with Batarian blood. A wounded Batarian groaned at her feet. Kara raised her boot and placed it on the Batarian's throat and pressed the barrel of her shotgun to it's forehead and pulled the trigger, she was splashed with more blood.

"Barricade is clear." She heard one trooper report and Kara smiled as she started to reload her shot gun.

_**Torfan – Blue Team – John 117**_

_**One Hour Later**_

Blue team moved calmly and without any haste into one of the airlocks and headed deeper into the base. The smell of burning flesh and death rose to meet them. None of the members of the team commented as they followed John deeper into the enemy stronghold.

It wasn't long before they came across what remained of a joint ODST and Marine force. UNSC fallen littered the hallways, along with a lot of Batarians. An ODST rose her hand to the Spartans as they reach what was left of the force.

"Blue team?" A female voice asked and John nodded; "First Lieutenant Kara Shepard." The ODST reported; "Their control room is up ahead. My force took heavy casualties to get this far." Kara reported. Of the one hundred and fifty troops that assaulted the airlock, it only looked as if fifty troops had actually made it this far. John looked past Shepard, however and at a Marine he recognised who was sitting off from the rest.

"Kelly." He said simply as he moved past Kara and towards the Marine. He could hear Kara making her report to Kelly. But his focus was on the Marine who's hands he could see were shaking.

"Lieutenant Williams." John spoke and the Marine looked up at him, a hollow look in her eyes through her breathing mask.

"John?" She asked and John nodded; "You're leading the team that will take out their leaders?" Again he nodded; "Don't hold back." She said, her voice thick with sadness.

"I won't." John confirmed; "Ma'am, are you alright?"

"I joined the Marines three years ago." Ashley explained; "I missed the Great war." She paused; "Was it like this, Spartan?" She gestured to the bodies around her; "Fighting desperately for barely any gain?"

John shook his head; "It was worse." He said simply; "But every person here gave their lives for something. The Batarians have had it their way for far too long. The Council has never done anything to stop them. So it's up to us to kill every last slaver we come across." Ashley nodded and got to her feet.

"When all this is over." She gave John a weak smile; "I could use someone to talk to." John nodded to her and smiled under his helmet.

"We can talk when this is all over, Lieutenant."  
"Call me Ashley." The Lieutenant smiled and nodded down the corridor; "Give them hell, Spartan."

John didn't say anything, he just motioned to Blue team and they made their way over to him and together, they made their way deeper into the Batarian base.

_**Torfan – Okato Pras'beh**_

"So we have no way out?" One of Okato's officers asked of him. And Okato growled in response. Okato was built like a tank, just over seven foot eight and muscular. He had been leading slave raids and pirate attacks for the last nine years of his life, and until six weeks ago, he had limited his attacks to small scale and only against the Turians. He had gotten ambitious and now his people had been massacred and all he had left were his best troops and he knew they were in trouble. The UNSC had been more capable then he had calculated. Their ships had crushed his own and their ground assault had been brutal and bloody, but his men had killed as many of them as they could, and it seemed like their attack had stalled for the minute. He only had twenty men left though, but they had all served in the Batarian military and had extensive combat training, plus they were prepared for what ever came through that door.

"Defensive positions!" Okato growled as he grabbed his light machine gun. There was clattering and he sound of feet clanging on the metal floor as his men prepared for their last stand.

Before they were ready, the door they were preparing to defend slid open and a couple of his men opened fire, but the rest waited till they were in position before firing. By that time it was too late, Okato watched as one of the attackers reached the barricade his men had erected and jumped clean over it, landing behind them and opening fire with two SMG's. Another, with a shotgun had done the same and pulled one of his men towards him and smashed his helmet into the Batarians face, causing him to howl with pain, a pain that was quickly silenced when the soldier fired a shell into the Batarians face and the soldier spun faster then anyone should have been able to and fired again, killing another of his men. A third soldier with small amounts of damage on the right of his chest moved amongst his men, firing short assault rifle burst and the slavers were in complete disarray as the armoured soldiers tore a bloody swath through his men.

_**Torfan – John 117**_

John rolled to the left as a Batarian tried to knife him and he came up behind him and grabbed his head and cracked it to the left, breaking the combatants neck. A machine gun thundered out rounds into Johns back. His shields held and John rolled backwards, pulling his pistol from his hip as he did and rising to his feet and pulling the trigger. The bullet smashed into the Batarian. This Batarian was huge, impossible to miss.

John emptied the entire clip into the Batarian, but the monsters shield held and it swung it's rifle round to target John. The Spartan didn't stop to reload and dropped the pistol before charging forward. The move caught the Batarian off guard, but he recovered quickly and swung his rifle at Johns head. John ducked under the swinging rifle and tackled the large Batarian to the ground and instantly moved up and swung his fist into the Batarian's face.

The punch broke the Batarian's shield and there was a crack as something broke. The large Batarian struggled, but John smashed his fist into his face again and again until the Batarian stopped. John then calmly got to his feet and scooped up his pistol and slid a fresh clip into it and turned and double tapped the Batarian who twitched and died.

"This is Blue team to Hackett." John spoke calmly as he fired a third shot to make sure the Batarian was dead. He heard Linda's battle rifle clatter as she killed a wounded Batarian.

"This is Admiral Hackett, report Spartan?"

"We have taken the Command center. All Batarian's are KIA."

"Good job, Spartan. What is the status of the rest of the task force?" John was silent for a moment. He wasn't sure how to answer, but he didn't have to as Cortana joined the conversation.

"The Task force has suffered heavy casualties. Eighty percent minimum." John felt something inside him deflate slightly, he heard Hackett take a deep breath.

"Find out the exact number and report back to me."

_**Cairo Station – Earth**_

_**1**__**st**__** Lieutenant Kara Shepard**_

_**Three days after the fighting on Torfan**_

Kara felt very strange in the white dress uniform she was being forced to wear. The cap was tucked under her arm as she headed towards the main Control room. 'The Butcher of Torfan' that is what she was being called by the media, and the name was fitting. She had slaughtered the Batarians to avenge the friends she had lost on Elysium. And she was going to be honoured for her heroics on Elysium and then on Torfan. She wasn't the only one getting honoured, so were the other surviving leaders that had led their troops into the tunnels of Torfan.

Lieutenant Williams had been the only soldier to be awarded an honour to turn it down. Kara didn't know Williams on a personal level, but one of Blue team had informed her that Williams might be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Kara had heard it was an awful thing to suffer through, and Kara was sure that Williams wasn't the only Torfan survivor who would be suffering. Torfan was a slaughter for both sides and, apart from the Spartans, Kara wasn't sure how many of the survivors would be unscratched in some way.

Kara entered the control room quite sure that Torfan was going to be the defining moment in her career. But no one knew what the future held for her. Torfan would be one moment, but there was more to come. And that was all on the horizon.

_**AN: I am still looking for at least two more character submissions, anything is welcome**_


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